Proposed construction and operation of a gravel …... ix 1. Introduction ..... 1 1.1. History of PNRA activities and logistic structures at MZS ..... 1 1.2. Necessity of a new gravel

ATCM XXXIX, CEP XIX, Santiago 2016

Annex A to the WP presented by Italy

Draft

Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation

Proposed construction and operation of

a gravel runway in the area of

Mario Zucchelli Station, Terra Nova Bay,

Victoria Land, Antarctica

January 2016

Rev. 0

(INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Non-technical summary ...................................................................................................................... i

I Introduction ........................................................................................................................ i

II Need of Proposed Activities .............................................................................................. ii

III Site selection and alternatives .......................................................................................... iii

IV Description of the Proposed Activity ............................................................................... iv

V Initial Environmental Reference State .............................................................................. v

VI Identification and Prediction of Environmental Impact, Mitigation Measures of the

Proposed Activities .......................................................................................................... vi

VII Environmental Impact Monitoring Plan ........................................................................... ix

VIII Gaps in Knowledge and Uncertainties ............................................................................. ix

IX Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... ix

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

1.1. History of PNRA activities and logistic structures at MZS .............................................. 1

1.2. Necessity of a new gravel airstrip and site selection work (IPs) ....................................... 2

1.3. Preparation and submission of the Draft CEE .................................................................. 4

1.4. Laws, standards and guidelines ......................................................................................... 4

1.5. Project management system .............................................................................................. 5

2. Description of the Proposed Activity ...................................................................................... 6

2.1. Scope ................................................................................................................................. 6

2.2. Location of the activity ..................................................................................................... 7

2.3. Airstrip design ................................................................................................................. 11 2.3.1. General specifications.................................................................................................. 11 2.3.2. Project description ....................................................................................................... 12 2.3.3. Runway facilities ......................................................................................................... 15 2.3.4. Mechanical properties of soil ...................................................................................... 18

2.4. Airstrip construction and maintenance ............................................................................ 26 2.4.1. Engineering design ...................................................................................................... 26 2.4.2. Embankment design .................................................................................................... 26 2.4.3. Numerical modelling ................................................................................................... 37 2.4.4. Material requirements and quarries ............................................................................. 39 2.4.5. Construction Method ................................................................................................... 43 2.4.6. Maintenance and Repair of Surface Layer .................................................................. 46

2.5. Aeronautic characteristics ............................................................................................... 47 2.5.1. Runway geometric characteristics ............................................................................... 47 2.5.2. Runway Considerations ............................................................................................... 50 2.5.3. Flight approach and take off ........................................................................................ 50

2.6. Operation plan and international profits ......................................................................... 52 2.6.1. Airstrip operation plan ................................................................................................. 52

2.6.2. International profits ..................................................................................................... 53

2.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 54

3. Alternatives to the Proposed Activity ................................................................................... 55

3.1. Situation of skiway operations at Mario Zucchelli Station ............................................. 55

3.2. Non proceeding alternative: evaluation of the naval operations ..................................... 58

3.3. Alternative airstrip sites .................................................................................................. 60 3.3.1. Efficiency of intercontinental operations at MZS ....................................................... 60 3.3.2. The Nansen ice sheet airstrip ....................................................................................... 60

3.4. An alternative site for the gravel runway: Campo Antenne ............................................ 62 3.4.1. Description of the alternative site ................................................................................ 63 3.4.2. Feasibility of the alternative airstrip ............................................................................ 64 3.4.3. Aeronautical flight clearances at the site ..................................................................... 66 3.4.4. Climate and meteorology............................................................................................. 67

3.5. Alternative methods for the realization of the Boulder Clay embankment .................... 68

3.6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 69

4. Initial Environmental Reference state on the Boulder Clay site ........................................ 70

4.1. Geomorphological and Geological framework ............................................................... 70 4.1.1. The Boulder Clay Moraine features ............................................................................ 74 4.1.2. Boulder Clay GPR survey ........................................................................................... 78 4.1.3. Geodetic survey ........................................................................................................... 86 4.1.4. Moraine deformation by satellite SAR interferometry ................................................ 87

4.2. Climate and meteorology ................................................................................................ 92 4.2.1. Temperature ................................................................................................................. 94 4.2.2. Wind ............................................................................................................................ 95 4.2.3. Wind shear ................................................................................................................... 97 4.2.4. Precipitation ............................................................................................................... 100

4.3. Biology and natural environment .................................................................................. 100 4.3.1. Fauna ......................................................................................................................... 101 4.3.2. Flora, vegetation and land use ................................................................................... 104

4.4. Antarctic protected areas ............................................................................................... 114 4.4.1. ASPAs in the Ross Sea region ................................................................................... 114 4.4.2. ASPA n°161 .............................................................................................................. 115

4.5. Air quality monitoring................................................................................................... 117 4.5.1. Air quality data at Terra Nova Bay ........................................................................... 117

4.6. Research activities ......................................................................................................... 122 4.6.1. Scientific activities and long-term monitoring on permafrost and active layer at

Boulder Clay .............................................................................................................. 122 4.6.2. Research activities in ASPA n°161 ........................................................................... 124

4.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 125

5. Identification and Prediction of Environmental Impact, Assessment and Mitigation

Measures of the Proposed Activities ................................................................................... 129

5.1. Environmental impact identification, prediction and assessment ................................. 129 5.1.1. Estimation on fuel consumption ................................................................................ 129 5.1.2. Evaluation of noise emission ..................................................................................... 133

5.1.3. Oil spill ...................................................................................................................... 136 5.1.4. Impact on snow and ice ............................................................................................. 136 5.1.5. Impact on ecosystem ................................................................................................. 136 5.1.6. Impact on wilderness and aesthetic values ................................................................ 140 5.1.7. Impact of solid waste collection and disposal ........................................................... 141

5.2. Methodology ................................................................................................................. 142 5.2.1. Impact matrices ......................................................................................................... 143

5.3. Mitigation measure ........................................................................................................ 146 5.3.1. Present protection status and envisaged measure ...................................................... 146 5.3.2. Mitigation measures for Atmospheric pollution. ....................................................... 148 5.3.3. Mitigation measures for noise prevention ................................................................. 148 5.3.4. Prevention and mitigation measures of oil spills ....................................................... 148 5.3.5. Mitigation measures against the loss of wilderness and aesthetic values .................. 149 5.3.6. Mitigation measures against non-native species introduction ................................... 150

5.4. BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 151

6. Environmental Monitoring Plan and Dismantling ............................................................ 152

6.1. Environmental monitoring plan .................................................................................... 152 6.1.1. Permafrost and ice blisters ......................................................................................... 153 6.1.2. Fauna ......................................................................................................................... 154 6.1.3. Vegetation .................................................................................................................. 157 6.1.4. Air quality .................................................................................................................. 159 6.1.5. Deformation processes and micro landslide .............................................................. 161 6.1.6. Monitoring activities related to the construction and use of the airstrip ................... 164

6.2. Dismantling of the facility and environmental restoring .............................................. 165 6.2.1. Decommissioning of the facility and waste removing .............................................. 165 6.2.1. Wilderness and aesthetic values remediation ............................................................ 166

6.3. BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 166

7. Gaps in knowledge and project uncertainties .................................................................... 167

7.1. A runway over a glacier moraine .................................................................................. 167

7.2. Moraine surveys for filling gaps in knowledge ............................................................. 168

7.3. Construction method and preliminary tests ................................................................... 169

7.4. Convection embankment ............................................................................................... 169

7.5. Managing cumulative risks ........................................................................................... 170

7.6. Managing severe oil spill events ................................................................................... 171

8. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 172

9. Authors and acknowledgment ............................................................................................. 173

Annex A: Climate and Meteorology ............................................................................................. 175

Figure Index

Figure 2.1: The Hercules aircraft landing at the Gerlache Inlet fast ice runway. ............................................ 6

Figure 2.2: Regional map of the Terra Nova Bay area. ................................................................................... 8

Figure 2.3: Evidence of ASPA n°161 and Adélie Cove respect Boulder Clay runway, Enigma Lake

skiway and the alternative site of Campo Antenne. ...................................................................... 9

Figure 2.4: Boulder Clay Moraine (a) and Lake ice blister (b) at Boulder Clay Site (11 November

2014). .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Figure 2.5: Runway layout with the four construction phases. ..................................................................... 14

Figure 2.6: Runway facilities: Apron, taxiways, fuel tank, helipad, and vehicle access road. ...................... 15

Figure 2.7: Ground investigations location (blue labels =XXIX Antarctica expedition, green labels =

XXVIII Antarctica expedition). .................................................................................................. 19

Figure 2.8: Typical CBR values [2.5]............................................................................................................ 20

Figure 2.9: Grain size distribution (XXIX Antarctica expedition). ............................................................... 21

Figure 2.10: Grain size distribution (XXVIII Antarctica expedition). ............................................................ 21

Figure 2.11: Moraine material at Boulder Clay site in a square meter (12 November 2014). ........................ 22

Figure 2.12: Moraine material at Boulder Clay site (12 November 2014). ..................................................... 22

Figure 2.13: Boulders and cobbles at Boulder Clay site (12 November 2014). .............................................. 23

Figure 2.14: Typical compacted densities and optimum moisture contents [2.5]. .......................................... 24

Figure 2.15: Representative map of debris thickness. ..................................................................................... 25

Figure 2.16: Sub-base, base course, surface Grain size distribution and relative layers ................................. 27

Figure 2.17: Materials for use of Base Course [2.6]. ...................................................................................... 30

Figure 2.18: FAARFIELD software results for a subgrade with a reduced CBR=8% [2.6]. .......................... 32



Figure 2.21: Tire Pressure Restriction vs CBR Measured with Boeing Penetrometer [2.7]. .......................... 33

Figure 2.22: Runway profile d-d (centreline). ................................................................................................. 34

Figure 2.23: Detail of Runway section, with embankment and shoulders profile. .......................................... 35

Figure 2.24: Construction phases. ................................................................................................................... 36

Figure 2.25: Model geometry. ......................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 2.26: Numerical result – convective cells and temperatures (Day 220). .............................................. 39

Figure 2.27: Numerical result – convective cells and temperatures (Day 270). .............................................. 39

Figure 2.28: Roads to access the runway site at Boulder Clay. ....................................................................... 41

Figure 2.29: Potential quarries location (in magenta). .................................................................................... 42

Figure 2.30: Typical C130 Cargo dimensions ................................................................................................. 49

Figure 2.31: Approach Surface RWY20 (AS RWY20). ................................................................................. 51

Figure 3.1: Locations of the available icestrips around MZS ........................................................................ 56

Figure 3.2: The Campbell Ice Tongue before and after November 2005. ..................................................... 57

Figure 3.3: The vessel Italica. ........................................................................................................................ 58

Figure 3.4: Locations of Nansen ice strip (yellow line) and the track of the two roads from MZS. ............. 61

Figure 3.5: A slope map of the area around the station and the alternative location for the airstrip at

Campo Antenne (black arrow). ................................................................................................... 62

Figure 3.6: Locations of both the ionospheric and environmental observatories (red arrows) and the

larger antennas fields (pink lines) at Campo Antenne site. ......................................................... 63

Figure 3.7: A satellite map (left) and 3-D height contour map (right) of the Campo Antenne area close

to MZS ........................................................................................................................................ 65

Figure 3.8: A slope cut of a possible airstrip 1770 m long at Campo Antenne ............................................. 65

Figure 3.9: Behaviours of flight clearance surfaces at Campo Antenne ....................................................... 67

Figure 3.10: Wind rose of decadal averaged winds measured by Eneide meteorological station during

summer ........................................................................................................................................ 68

Figure 4.1: Geomorphological map of the Northern Foothills near MZS [4.1] ............................................ 72

Figure 4.2: Terra Nova intrusive complex geo-petrographic map [4.6] ........................................................ 73

Figure 4.3: Climate trends in the period 1996–2012 ..................................................................................... 77

Figure 4.4: Active layer thickness (cm) (median, quartiles and range) measured at the Boulder Clay

CALM grid (100 m x 100 m, 121 nodes) in the period 2000–2013 ........................................... 77

Figure 4.5: Map of debris thickness carried out by means of airborne survey. ............................................. 79

Figure 4.6: Representative radargrams and map of debris thickness. ........................................................... 80

Figure 4.7: Map of interpolated ice thickness in the Boulder Clay Glacier. ................................................. 81

Figure 4.8: Representative radargrams from sections in Figure 4.7. ............................................................. 82

Figure 4.9: a) Map of melting lakes detected by the GPR airborne survey. .................................................. 83

Figure 4.10: a) Representative radargrams, b) map of lake ice blister. ........................................................... 84

Figure 4.11: a and b - Displacement map related to Dataset A (2013) and Dataset B (2014)......................... 88

Figure 4.12: Boulder Clay area differential interferogram. ............................................................................. 90

Figure 4.13: GPS Stations vectors (December 2013-November 2015) and buried bedrock saddles. ............. 91

Figure 4.14: Detail of the area of interest, showing airways and automatic weather stations ......................... 93

Figure 4.15: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS Eneide (data from Feb. 1987 to Nov. 2011). .... 94

Figure 4.16: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS Rita (data from Jan. 1993 to Nov. 2011). ......... 94

Figure 4.17: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS K1 (data from Feb. 2103 to Jan. 2015). ............ 95

Figure 4.18: Wind speed and direction recorded by AWS Rita in summer seasons ....................................... 96

Figure 4.19: Wind speed and direction recorded by AWS K2 in summer seasons ......................................... 96

Figure 4.20: Intensity and direction distribution of vertical wind shear between Rita and K2 ....................... 99

Figure 4.21: Intensity and direction distribution of horizontal wind shear between K3 and K2 ..................... 99

Figure 4.22: Map of the points where skua nests were found at Boulder Clay site during surveys in

summer 2009 and 2015, along with the upper limit of the penguins colony and the marine

boundaries of leopard seals area. .............................................................................................. 102

Figure 4.23: Maps of the diffuse epilithic colonization on runway area ....................................................... 109

Figure 4.24: Percentage coverage (%) of the vegetation within the pathway ............................................... 110

Figure 4.25: Priority areas indicating the vegetation patches selected for the transplant operations

finalized to the mitigation measures ......................................................................................... 112

Figure 4.26: Location of the six quarry areas. ............................................................................................... 113

Figure 4.27: Map of Terra Nova Bay ASPAs (A) with a detailed map of ASPA n° 161 and ASPA n°

173 (B). ..................................................................................................................................... 116

Figure 4.28: Average values of the total PAHs considered at Campo Icaro, for each Expedition. ............... 119

Figure 4.29: Average values of total PAHs considered at MZS, for each Expedition. ................................. 120

Figure 4.30: Location of the runway respect to the CALM grid ................................................................... 122

Figure 5.1: Estimated noise level over natural noise condition (20 dB(A)) at 125 Hz, during full engine

power of Hercules L100/30, in take-off procedure. .................................................................. 135

Figure 5.2: The area around MZS with the planned flight routes. .............................................................. 138

Figure 5.3: ASPAs of Terra Nova Bay and Wood Bay area ....................................................................... 139

Figure 6.1: Example of a suitable site for lichen bio-monitoring (left side) and location of the sites for

the bio-monitoring of pollution impacts on lichens and bryophytes (right side) ...................... 159

Figure 6.2: COSMO-Skymed ascending (upper) and descending (lower) tracks ....................................... 162

Table Index

Table 2.1: Grain Diameter less than values (mm). ....................................................................................... 27

Table 2.2: Soil Frost Groups [2.6]................................................................................................................ 29

Table 2.3: Reduced Subgrade Strength ratings [2.6].................................................................................... 29

Table 2.4: Material Properties adopted in the numerical analyses ............................................................... 38

Table 2.5: Volume of material required to realize the embankment ............................................................ 40

Table 2.6: Quarries data (see figure 2.29). .................................................................................................. 40

Table 2.7: Runway characteristic points ...................................................................................................... 47

Table 2.8: Design aircrafts characteristics ................................................................................................... 48

Table 2.9: Runway characteristics ............................................................................................................... 50

Table 3.1: Estimated fuel consumption and total emissions in the hypothesis of autonomous maritime

transportation of personnel at the end of the season (15 g cruise). ............................................. 59

Table 4.1: Physical-chemical parameters of lake ice blister water performed in situ. ................................. 85

Table 4.2: Composition of water sampled in the lake ice blister of Fig. 4.10b. ........................................... 85

Table 4.3: Microorganisms found in Lake ice blister. ................................................................................. 86

Table 4.4: Two years geodetic network displacement ................................................................................. 86

Table 4.5: Coordinates and features of Eneide and Rita weather stations in MZS area. ............................. 92

Table 4.6: Coordinates and features of K1, K2, K3, K4, K5 weather stations in MZS area........................ 92

Table 4.7: Comparison of AWS Eneide and Rita frequency and intensity of W and WNW wind

directions. .................................................................................................................................... 97

Table 4.8: Comparison of AWS K1, K2, K3 and Rita percentage distribution of WSW wind

directions ..................................................................................................................................... 97

Table 4.9: Wind shear classification recommended by the Fifth Air Navigation Conference ..................... 98

Table 4.10: Mean colony counts of nesting territories along the Victoria Land coast in 2012. [4.35] ........ 103

Table 4.11: List of the species occurring in Boulder Clay area, within the runway path and in the

quarry areas ............................................................................................................................... 107

Table 4.12: Considered PAH for the monitoring survey.............................................................................. 118

Table 4.13: PAH average concentrations (pg m-3). ..................................................................................... 119

Table 4.14: Heavy metal concentrations at MZS, ng/m3. ............................................................................ 121

Table 4.15: Heavy metal concentrations at Campo Icaro, ng/m3. ................................................................ 121

Table 5.1: Estimated fuel consumption required during construction of the runway (tons). ..................... 130

Table 5.2: Estimated fuel consumption during operation of the gravel runway (tons) .............................. 130

Table 5.3: Estimated total annual emission during construction of the gravel runway (tons). .................. 132

Table 5.4: Estimated total annual emission (15 flight/year) during operation of the gravel runway

(tons) [5.1] ................................................................................................................................. 133

Table 5.5: Boundary condition applied for noise level prediction during the aircraft take off

procedure. .................................................................................................................................. 134

Table 5.6 Wastes produced in field camp and the pertinent storage system. ............................................ 141

Table 5.7: Impact matrices ......................................................................................................................... 144

Table 6.1: Some potential indicators and parameters for use in monitoring programmes in Antarctica. .. 152

Table 6.2: Schedule for monitoring - Construction stage. ......................................................................... 164

Table 6.3: Schedule for monitoring - Operation stage. .............................................................................. 165

List of Acronyms

AAD Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston Tasmania, Australia

AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (USA)

ACE Air Convection Embankments

AntNZ Antarctica New Zealand, Christchurch, New Zealand

ARP Aerodrome Reference Point

ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Roma, Italia

Italian Space Agency

ASMA Antarctic Specially Managed Area

ASPA Antarctic Special Protected Area

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials

ATCM Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting

ATCP Antarctic Treaty Consultative Party

AWS Automatic Weather Station

BC Boulder Clay

BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Germany

Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources

CALM Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring

CBR California Bearing Ratio

CCAMLR Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

CEE Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation

CEP Committee for Environmental Protection

CFC ChloroFluoroCarbons

CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, Italia

National Research Council

COMNAP Council of Managers of National Antarctic Program

CSNA Commissione Scientifica Nazionale per l'Antartide

National Scientific Committee for Antarctica

DDU Dumont d'Urville Station

EMAP Environmental Management Plan

EMOP Environmental Monitoring Plan

ENEA Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile,

Roma, Italia

National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development Environmental

Protocol The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty

FAA Federal Aviation Administration (USA)

FOD Foreign Object Debris

GPR Ground Penetrating Radar

GPS Global Positioning System

GPU Ground Power Unit

HSM Historic Site and Monument

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

IEE Initial Environmental Evaluation

IP Information Paper

IPEV Institut Polaire Français – Paul Emile Victor, Plouzané, France

French Polar Institute

ISO International Organization for Standardization

IWC International Whaling Commission

JA1 Fuel Jet A-1

JBS Jang Bogo Station

KOPRI Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Korea

LSZ Lateral Safety Zone

LWD Light Weight Deflectometer

MAAT Mean Annual Air Temperature

MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

McM McMurdo Station

MIUR Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, Roma, Italia

Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research

MPA Multiple-use Planning Area

MZS Mario Zucchelli Station

NSF National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, USA

OLS Obstacle Limitation Surfaces

PAH Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

PCB PolyChlorinated Biphenyl

PCDD PolyChlorinated DibenzoDioxins

PNRA Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide

Italian National Antarctic Program

POP Persistent Organic Pollutant

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar

SCAR Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research

SPA Specially Protected Area

SSRU Small Scale Research Unit

SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest

TNB Terra Nova Bay

TPH Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons

TSS Total Suspended Solid

USAP United States Antarctic Program

USCS Unified Soil Classification System

UTA Antarctic Technical Unit

WP Working Paper

Draft CEE – MZS gravel runway

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page I

Proposed construction and operation of a

gravel runway in the area of

Mario Zucchelli Station, Terra Nova Bay,

Victoria Land, Antarctica

Non-technical summary

I Introduction

This Draft Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) has been prepared for the construction

and operation of a new gravel runway in Terra Nova Bay (TNB) pertinent to “Mario Zucchelli”

Station (MZS), Antarctica. The document has been prepared in accordance with Annex I of the

Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1998) and with the Guidelines for

Environmental Impact Assessment in Antarctica (Resolution 4, XXVIII ATCM, 2005).

This Draft CEE was prepared by ENEA-UTA, which is in charge of the implementation of the

Italian Antarctic expeditions, logistics and maintenance of the stations, and CNR for the scientific

contributions related to the actual state of the environment, monitoring and mitigation measures.

The document was submitted to the Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea

(MATTM) and to the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) to get

contributions aimed to improve the document itself, and allowed for submission by the Italian

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI).

The following contents are outlined:

Purpose and description of the proposed activity;

Alternatives to the proposed activity;

Site selection and initial environmental reference state;

Construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of the proposed activity;

Potential environmental impacts during construction, operation, maintenance and

decommissioning;

Monitoring programme;

Prevention and mitigation measures;

Gaps in knowledge and uncertainties.

Considering the past studies reported in Information Papers (XXV, XXXVI, XXXVII ATCMs,

respectively IP41, IP80, and IP57), the location of the gravel runway, at Boulder Clay (74°44'45''S,


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page II

164°01'17''E, 205 m a.s.l.), was chosen in convenience the construction/operation impacts and

logistical advantages, through an evaluation process of two candidate sites (Boulder Clay and

Campo Antenne) and after the past unsuccessful attempt of a permanent ice sheet runway (Nansen

Glacier). The gravel runway will operate as a long term solution facility for personnel and materials

transportation of PNRA, having in mind that it would become an important common facility for the

international network of Antarctic Programs established in Ross Sea region as well.

The PNRA is trying to meet the international guidelines related to the reduction of logistical costs in

favour of research activities funding.

II Need of Proposed Activities

In the last ATCMs, Italy presented several Information Papers (IP41- ATCM35/CEP15, IP80

ATCM36/CEP16, IP57 ATCM37/CEP17) and a Working Paper (WP 30/XXXVIII ATCM)

informing the Antarctic community of the need of PNRA to find a long term solution to increase the

reliability of its transportation system in terms of adequate arrival of personnel and delivery of

materials, allowing greater effectiveness of scientific research and a more reliable multi-year

programming. This need, in particular, was driven by the climatic changes experienced in the recent

past that affected logistic activities and consequently scientific activities.

The construction of a gravel runway could be this long term solution: an important permanent

infrastructure to share with the other Antarctic programs favouring cooperation and lowering of

logistics costs, facilitating science, allowing the air transportation of personnel at the end of the

season and reducing to the minimum the need to charter a vessel from Italy. This would lower the

actual human footprint of the Italian expeditions and would meet general recommendations related

to the reduction of logistical costs in favour of research activities funding.

Sharing of infrastructures results in environmental impact reduction and costs cutting as Concordia

Station and the Dronning Maud Land Air Network are already testifying. Finding ways to

implement co-operative air transport is also recommended at the international level ( Resolution 1

(2015) - ATCM XXXVIII - CEP XVIII, Sofia)

The construction of this airstrip from one side would reduce PNRA logistic naval activities and

from the other side would increase safety, becoming an alternate airstrip for McMurdo air

operations and an emergency way in winter for the near Korean Jang Bogo Station.

The project for the realization of an international transport hub in the Ross Sea area has already

been officially supported by German BGR, but also KOPRI, IPEV, USAP and AntNZ showed

interest, opening to future agreements.


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page III

III Site selection and alternatives

In the Southern area of the Northern Foothills with respect to MZS, inspections were conducted on

many sites to assess the preliminary technical feasibility of this infrastructure, considering the

length that aimed to be built, the aeronautical constraints and the orography of the terrain.

For the proposed activity, no alternative facilities already exist: the fast ice runway realized at the

beginning of the summer campaign in the Gerlache Inlet bay, does not last for the needed time as at

the end of November the ice conditions are not suitable.

The “not proceeding” alternative would mean finding alternative solutions for the transportation of

personnel at the end of the season: this could only mean chartering an ice class vessel every year. In

effect, without the US NSF support, Italian scientific activities would be seriously affected, as the

Italian National Antarctic Program is strongly dependent upon neighbouring Programs, especially

when the multipurpose ice class ship is not chartered. That is why the Italian National Antarctic

Program needs a long term solution to increase the reliability of its system in terms of adequate

arrival of personnel and delivery of scientific materials, allowing greater effectiveness of scientific

research and easier multi-year programming.

Only two locations on the land were retained as possible sites and considered adequate, for

technical reasons, for the construction of the gravel runway. These were “Boulder Clay” (BC) 74°

44’45’’S, 164° 01'17’’E, 205 m a.s.l., and “Campo Antenne” (74°4219,2”S, 164°06’19,6”).

Another site (Nansen Ice Sheet) had already been investigated for a permanent blue ice runway, but

although used in the past a few times for landing, resulted not suitable anymore and of

unpredictable availability, due to climatic conditions.

Boulder Clay site is located in the Northern Foothills, about 6 km South of the Italian Antarctic

Research Station Mario Zucchelli. The site is an ice-free area located on a very gentle slope (5°)

with South-Eastern exposure. Campo Antenne site is located on a predominantly flat granitic

outcrop, very close to the MZS. This site presently hosts MZS antenna farm.

Boulder Clay was finally chosen, through an evaluation process that kept in consideration to

minimize the overall environmental impact of the proposed activity, especially during the

construction phase (as an example: in terms of rock volume to displace and related impacts, in the

Campo Antenne option they would be around three times larger), thus guaranteeing efficiency and

safety in relation with wind direction. Moreover, this site, allowing the construction of a longer

runway with respect to Campo Antenne, could even permit landing of aircrafts with enough fuel

autonomy to avoid refuelling in Antarctica.

The exact location of the runway in the Boulder Clay area reflected these considerations and the

project was developed to minimize any impact on the existing environment (as will be discussed in

the next chapters). The proposed gravel runway will be based on a subgrade corresponding to an ice

core moraine that overlies a body of dead glacier or buried glacial ice.


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page IV

The proposed site for the airstrip is close to the other neighbouring stations: about 13 km from

Gondwana Station, 15 km from Jang Bogo Station and 16 km from the location proposed by China

for its new station at Inexpressible Island. Distance from McMurdo Station and Scott Base will be

around 400 km. This could favour international cooperation and sharing of logistic resources

between the neighbouring National Antarctic Program, thus reducing the overall human impact on

the area.

IV Description of the Proposed Activity

The activities described in this CEE concern construction and operation of the airstrip and related

terrestrial connexions and facilities, temporary facilities on site during the construction phase,

installation and use of machineries, and decommissioning of the airstrip.

The gravel runway project includes the following facilities: the gravel runway itself (a gravel

embankment of 2,200 m long and 60 m wide that will be constructed using materials available in

the nearby area) endowed, at the end of the airstrip, with an apron (130x134 m) for 2 aircrafts; an

helipad (30x30 m) for safety reasons; a service area (70x22 m) equipped with a little parking for

vehicles, a reception structure (MZS terminal) assembled with 6 ISO 20 insulated containers and

containing a waiting room for passengers, offices and a chemical toilet, and a shed (14x7x5 m) that

will host two fire trucks and related equipment, the unloading material for the aircraft (i.e. forklift),

a store and a little workshop. A small taxiway (70 m long, 25 m width) will connect the runway

with the apron. On the opposite side of the apron (with respect to the service area), a double walled

stainless steel tank of 44 m3 capacity will store the minimum fuel required for two operations. This

tank will be refilled from MZS via appropriate tanker for fuel transportation.

Access to this facility will be allowed prolonging the already existing road that connects MZS to

Enigma Lake skyway of 3,4 km.

The choice of facilities positioning is the result of considerations aiming at the maximum reduction

of the volume needed for the embankment and works, following, to the maximum possible extent,

the natural orography of the moraine.

The dimensions of the service installation follow ICAO standards and the Italian legislation.

For air operations control, a new operation room (2 ISO 20 insulated containers) will be installed at

the top of the hill close to the existing weather station AWS Rita. This will allow personnel to have

a clear view over all the runways used (fast ice runway, Enigma Lake skyway and the future gravel

runway) and to increase safety of operations.

All buildings are modular and will be composed of preassembled structures. Globally the total

occupied area will be around 0.15 km2 with the longitudinal centreline of the entire embankment

running in the direction NNE-SSW, at an elevation of about 200 m a.s.l.


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page V

Concerning electrical power and heating of the installations, the buildings will be provided with a

solar photovoltaic power plant for the production of electrical energy combined with a traditional

power generator of 20 kW that will act like backup system only. The use of this generator, in any

case, will not be continuous but will be dependent upon the planned flight activities. For the heating

and hot water production, solar thermal collectors will be installed. Both, the electrical and thermal

systems should cover the energy needs of these installations.

The runway will require, as maintenance, only an annual snow removing and small levelling

adjustment. This prediction is the result of seasonal surveys of the well-known area of Boulder

Clay, of the meteorological data acquired on site in the last years and of the accurate determination

of the behaviour of long term moraine ice drifts by means of interferometric satellite data.

This infrastructure aims to become a permanent one and its expected life span will be therefore over

20 years, as long as it will be possible to run it and MZS will be operational. When its use will be

no longer possible, decommissioning operations will take place and all buildings will be dismantled

and removed from the site. To allow recovery of the landscape, depending on the state of the

ecosystem that will be evaluated at the moment of dismantling, the embankment will be partially or

totally removed distributing the rocks over the surface following to the maximum extent the natural

orography of the moraine. Considering the volumes of rock that compose the embankment, any

other solution such as complete rock removal from site and disposal, would result in a higher

environmental cost.

V Initial Environmental Reference State

The Boulder Clay area, interested by the construction of the runway, is a predominantly snow-free

area where the Boulder Clay Glacier, an old glacier that extends from the Enigma Lake area to

Adélie Cove where it degrades toward the sea, is the main orographic feature.

The Boulder Clay moraine, where the runway will be constructed, is a late glacial ablation till that

overlies the body of the glacier. Surface includes perennially ice covered ponds with icing blisters,

frost mounds and debris islands.

The Meteorological Observatory of the Italian National Antarctic Program has a long historical

series of data. The climate in the area is cold and arid. The mean monthly air temperature recorded

ranged between -16 and -3,5°C in the summer period, with a mean annual temperature of -14 °C.

The region receives around 270 mm water equivalent precipitation per year. The prevailing winds

in the area blow from western sectors (W, WNW and WSW). They are associated mainly with the

katabatic flow coming from Reeves and Priestley Glacier and the wind speed can rarely reach

values over 40 knots.

Vegetation in the area covers less than 5% of the surface and is entirely cryptogrammic as vascular

plants are absent. Boulder Clay vegetation includes thirty-four lichens that are one of the principal


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page VI

components, seven mosses, one liverwort and various species of algae and cyanobacteria. In

particular in the Boulder Clay site, the observed lichens are prevalently nitrophilous.

At the bottom of the Boulder Clay glacier on the East coast there is an Adélie penguins rookery of

some thousands of couples. This site is, at the sea level, 1.8 km far from the end of the proposed

Boulder Clay gravel runway and 200 m below. The penguin colony is located in front of the marine

protected area ASPA 161 of Terra Nova Bay. This site is not included in ASPA n°161 but close to

its limits. In the penguin rockery area there are colonies of storm petrels and skuas.

Depending on temperatures, a partial melting of some icing blisters was observed in the Boulder

Clay area and the presence of biological life (bdelloidea rotifers, protists and platyhelminthes) in

water sampled in these lakes was confirmed.

The presence of MZS produced inevitable impacts in the last 30 years around the area. Since the

beginning of the Italian operations, a monitoring program was carried out to identify and mitigate

possible impacts. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals (mainly As, Cd, Pb,

V, Ni, Cu) in PM10 were identified as a good indicators of human activity as these markers can be

simply correlated to sources such as incomplete combustion processes. The baseline of pollutants

was evaluated by placing PM10 sampling equipment in “Campo Icaro”, which is located at a

distance of approximatively 2,5 km from MZS and close to the selected site for the runway

construction. Results of analyses conducted over 27 years showed that concentrations of the above

pollutants remained close to the detection limit. Therefore, this monitoring station will allow the

measurement of the changes resulting from the infrastructure construction and operation.

Data related to MZS revealed that this scientific base had a low impact on organisms since the

1990s . The contaminant accumulation and the lipid characterization were studied in many species

in the ASPA no. 161 and levels suggested that their presence in this protected marine area was due

to global transport from other parts of the planet, rather than local sources.

The main research activities conducted and still present in the Boulder Clay area, consist of CALM

experiment: a monitoring programme established in 1999 with a grid of 100x100 m measuring

permafrost and active layer temperature, and a shallow permafrost borehole with temperature

monitoring records. This monitoring network will be interested by the proposed activity and actions

will be planned with the scientific community to reduce the impact.

VI Identification and Prediction of Environmental Impact,

Mitigation Measures of the Proposed Activities

Potential impacts of the runway were evaluated considering all the life cycle of this infrastructure,

including construction, operation and decommissioning. Since the design phase, the runway site and

the runway facilities were chosen, positioned in such a way as to limit the volume of material to

collect, transport, screen, and level. However, as long as it will be used, this infrastructure is


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page VII

expected to have a permanent impact on the landscape (limited by the use of local material for the

construction of the embankment) and an impact on the surrounding environment, especially during

the construction phase.

Construction phase

In the construction phase, direct impacts will affect the atmosphere with the unavoidable release of

exhaust gases and PM10 from the operation of trucks, vehicles and generators, and of dust produced

by scraping of the surface, rock crushing and screening using heavy equipment.

For the construction of the apron and of some ridges present on the moraine along the airstrip area

(3000 m3) blasting operations will be conducted. These will release dust and generate noise and

vibrations. The noise generated by all these operations may disturb birds, raise stress level and

increase metabolism. However the distance between the Boulder Clay area and the Adélie penguins

colony and skuas (1.8 km horizontal and 200 m vertical from the proposed site) is expected to be

adequate to mitigate the disturbance.

An estimation of the total amount of expected pollutants was done and adequate maintenance

procedures will be put in place to limit these emissions.

Other potential impacts could be generated by accidental spills of fuel or lubricants and by disposal

of produced wastes and of wastewater from chemical toilets.

Operation phase

During the operational phase the source of the biggest impacts will be aircraft activity.

A maximum amount of 20 flights per operative season and 6 per month is expected and related

emissions, considering the aircraft presently used, were calculated.

Air operations will have an impact on the atmosphere with the release of exhaust gases from

engines, will generate noise and increase the potential of accidental fuel spill and related impact

because of the large quantities of fuel involved. Accidents of bird strike could also occur.

Other impacts may arise from operation of vehicles during the routine annual maintenance and from

fuel transfer and refuelling process, as well as accidental leakage from fuel tanks and by disposal of

produced wastes and wastewater from chemical toilets.

Decommissioning phase

During the decommissioning phase, direct impacts will affect the atmosphere with the release of

exhaust gases and PM10 from the operation of trucks, vehicles and generators. All buildings will be

disassembled and removed from the site while, depending upon the conditions of the ecosystem, the

embankment will partially levelled to better follow the natural orography of the moraine.

Other impacts may arise from disposal of wastes and of wastewater from chemical toilets.


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page VIII

Two months of work are expected for this activity.

Mitigation Measures

Particular attention will be paid to lower the probability of accidents by means of adequate

procedures and equipment both in the construction, operation and decommissioning phase.

The Guidelines for the Operation of aircraft near Concentrations of Birds in Antarctica (Resolution

2, 2004) were taken in consideration since the design phase and, concerning noise and disturbance

to fauna, the runway was designed as a one-way runway in the Boulder Clay project, to avoid flight

at any altitude over the colony. Aircraft flight path for landing and taking-off therefore will be kept

off the Adélie Cove area in addition to important limitations in height and space flight in overpasses

of ASPA n°161 area. The proposed infrastructure complies with the Minimum Distances for

Aircraft Operations Close to Concentration of Birds (WP 10-ATCM27)

The impact mitigation during the construction and operation of the airstrip will mainly consist of

the following measures:

Specific environmental training for the personnel involved in the construction and operation

of the runway.

The facilities annexed to the runway will be provided with thermal solar panels to limit to

the maximum the use of fossil fuels in generators for heating and power supply.

Mono fuel JA1 will be used for every vehicles or machinery;

All vehicles and mechanical equipment will be maintained under best condition and their

use will be reduced as much as possible;

Low noise machines, including noise-absorbing materials in power generators will be used;

Fuel spills will be prevented by using double-skinned fuel tanks posed on confined

structures made of impermeable layer. Suitable absorbent mats, pumps and appropriate

equipment will be available on site in accordance with guidelines such as the COMNAP

Fuel Manual;

Transportation of fuel will be done in appropriate tankers and special transportation

procedures will be set to ensure maximum safety

All wastes and wastewaters produced on the runway site will be collected and transported to

MZS for appropriate treatment or recycling.

Concerning pollutant and dust monitoring, a new monitoring station will be installed in the vicinity

of the runway. It will be useful to better evaluate the variations of the main environmental

parameters during the phases of construction and operation of the runway so as to identify and

provide early warning on adverse effects and allow for mitigation actions.

Concerning the impact of noise, minimal/medium disturbance to the local ecosystem is expected

considering the distances involved (well above the minimum distances for aircraft operations close

to concentration of birds). However monitoring of the birds will be conducted to identify potential


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page IX

excessive disturbance, thus allowing to take measures such as a review of the working schedule in

terms of daily working time and planning of activities.

VII Environmental Impact Monitoring Plan

To allow early identification of possible unpredicted impacts, an Environmental Monitoring Plan

(EMOP) has been developed to evaluate changes in the ecosystem during construction and

operation.

Research projects in the Boulder Clay area, as well as research project on penguins and skuas in

Adélie Cove site, will be enhanced, to analyse the life response of the birds community to any

possible interference from the airstrip construction and activity.

VIII Gaps in Knowledge and Uncertainties

The construction of a runway over an old glacier moraine is a challenging project, as no other

examples are available. The stability of the moraine, however, has been deeply investigated during

the last campaigns by means of several instruments and techniques, obtaining encouraging results.

Identified gaps in knowledge and uncertainties for the construction and operation of the new gravel

airstrip include:

Climate conditions during the construction phase;

Possible human induced physiological changes on wildlife not manifesting into behavioral

changes (WP 27- ATCM 38);

Long-term climate change, usage time as function of favourable atmospheric condition,

winter snow accumulation on the pathway;

Long-term maintenance;

Uncertainties in the knowledge of long-term moraine behaviour changes;

Changes in future perspectives of research projects in the area.

IX Conclusions

The runway will potentially be a logistic hub for many Antarctic Programs in the region, gaining a

more flexible turnover in Antarctica for Italian and foreign scientists, so contributing to develop

international and multidisciplinary research activities.

No touristic activity will be allowed for this infrastructure.

The impact of the construction, operation and decommissioning of the gravel runway at Boulder

Clay on the environmental and on the ecosystem were considered since the design phase and will

be minimized applying appropriate mitigation and monitoring measures.


NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY page X

The result of CEE suggests that the benefits that will be obtained from the permanent runway will

grossly outweigh the “more than a minor or transitory” impacts of the runway on the environmental

and on the ecosystem.

On these basis, the establishment of the proposed facility is highly recommended.

Draft CEE – MZS gravel runway page 1

1. Introduction

1.1. History of PNRA activities and logistic structures at MZS

In 1981 the Italian government signed the Antarctic Treaty and the National Program for Research

in Antarctica (PNRA) was created in 1985. PNRA is directed by the Ministry of Education,

Universities and Research (MIUR) through three national bodies: the National Scientific Committee

for Antarctica (CSNA) for long term objectives and strategies, the National Research Council

(CNR) for the coordination of scientific research and the Italian National Agency for New

Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) for the implementation of

the Antarctic expeditions, logistics and maintenance of the Stations. At present ENEA acts trough

the Antarctic Technical Unit (UTA).

Up to now, 30 national scientific campaigns were successfully concluded and two permanent

Stations were built: the seasonal Mario Zucchelli Station in Terra Nova Bay (1986-1987) and the all

year round Concordia Station (1999-2005), co-managed with France on the Antarctic plateau.

Valuable results were achieved by Italian scientists in the last 30 years with a significant amount of

international publications. A summary of the main scientific area of interest, overviewing the large

research production of Italy in the Terra Nova Bay area, was presented during the Brasilia Antarctic

Treaty Consultative Meeting (IP 90/XXXVII ATCM).

Close to MZS are located the German Gondwana Station and the new Korean Jang Bogo Station,

opened in 2014; China also proposed the construction of a new Station at Inexpressible Island,

about 16 km south-east of MZS.

MZS is usually opened from late October to mid-February to host important researches in the

Victoria Land and in the Ross Sea region, in the fields of earth sciences (geology, geophysics and

glaciology), oceanography, marine biology, chemistry and atmospheric physics; besides, MZS

serves as essential base for the air traffic to support the Concordia Station research activities.

For the intercontinental transportation of personnel and freights, PNRA relies on two transportation

methods: flights and the multipurpose ice class ship Italica, which is rent every two years and it is

used both to refuel the Station and for the oceanographic research campaigns.

International cooperation with NSF-USAP, IPEV, KOPRI, AntNZ and AAD also provides an

essential support to the PNRA logistics.

Since beginning of 90’s, PNRA operates an ice runway, which is prepared on the fast ice of

Gerlache Inlet, in front of MZS, at the beginning of the summer campaign. This runway is generally

operated between late October and late November, depending on fast ice conditions, for wheeled

aircrafts landing (Hercules L100/30) and holds a crucial role to carry out most of the Italian


scientific activities in Antarctica, allowing an earlier opening of MZS (mid-October) compared to

the later opening by vessel (late December).

PNRA also uses other blue ice runways in the MZS area, for operations with smaller aircrafts, like

Twin-Otter and Basler, to support scientific and logistic activities in MZS, in several sites around

Terra Nova Bay / Victoria Land and for connecting MZS with McMurdo Station, Concordia Station

and Dumont d’Urville Station. Twin-Otter aircrafts play also a key role for providing the needed

capacity of Search and Rescue operations.

Since 90’s the use of airplanes was remarkably increased, thanks to its effectiveness in supporting

both logistic and scientific activities, thus allowing an important increase in quantity and quality of

the scientific production related to PNRA activity.

A detailed description of all the PNRA skyway operations in MZS will be found in the following

Chapter 3.1

1.2. Necessity of a new gravel airstrip and site selection work (IPs)

Although the effectiveness of PNRA in supporting the research in MZS was continuously

increasing in the last decade, recently it suffered of hard logistic difficulties. They were mainly

related to a late delivery of the scientific material and a late arrival of the personnel, caused by

delays and cancellations of planned flights due to an unpredictable fast deterioration of the ice

runway. Actually a significant environmental variability of the fast ice thickness and temperature in

Gerlache Inlet was observed in the last years and the reason was identified in the abrupt reduction

of Campbell Ice Tongue extension in Terra Nova Bay in 2005.

At this moment, the implementation of national scientific programs is quite tricky due to a PNRA

lack in assuring them the necessary logistic support, following on from the difficulty for PNRA of a

clear schedule of personnel and staff movements in/out at MZS. In addition, a support from the

transport services of NSF-USAP is requested every year, to permit personnel rotation during the

part of the season when the ship is not available and the ice runway cannot be used.

It must be pointed out that, to overcome these problems, to date diverse landing ice airstrips were

considered and became matter for several Information Papers (IP) presented in the last years during

ATCM meetings. The main tentative, described in detail in Chapter 3.3.2, was the blue ice runway

on Nansen Ice Sheet (IP 71/XXX ATCM), used just once and then considered not enough safe, due

to the ice degradation in summer with dangerous presence of temporary fresh water puddles and

streams during warmer months in late season. Other attempts (IP 42/XXIX ATCM) were more

successful but limited to small aircraft operations.

Nowadays, without the US logistic support for the air operations, the most recent PNRA scientific

activities, already reduced, would be even more seriously affected. So at this moment PNRA has to

confide in the support of foreign Antarctic programs for moving personnel and stuffs in/out of


Antarctica, especially when the Italica vessel is not chartered. Specifically from the air operation

point of view, important agreements with NSF-USAP lead to operational help by their aircraft

operations, although bringing personnel and stuffs from MZS to McMurdo airport (> 400 km trip)

by Twin Otter or helicopter appears a very costly and inefficient operative way. A most effective

way comes from the agreements with KOPRI, helping PNRA operations by means of the Araon

vessel, usually reaching the close Korean Jang Bogo Station every year during the austral summer.

Indeed it should be here highlighted that all these operative ways, although very useful, are

obviously strictly depending on the real possibility of support at that moment by the partners, and

are necessary enslaved to their own priorities, leading anyway to a large difficulty in an effective

schedule of all the required operational supports for the scientific projects.

It is quite clear that PNRA needs a long term solution to the problem, to increase the reliability of

the air support for both the Italian Stations, in terms of adequate arrival of personnel and delivery of

materials, greater effectiveness of scientific researches in Antarctica and easier multi-year

programming.

So the proposed solution has to be considered the final step of a long study process, that started

several years ago with the already mentioned blue ice runway on Nansen Ice Sheet and continued in

the recent past with geological and aeronautical investigations devoted to find the best way and site

for the construction of a gravel runway close to MZS (IP 41/XXXV ATCM, IP 80/XXXVI ATCM,

IP 57/XXXVII ATCM).

The proposed gravel runway would become an important permanent infrastructure, to be shared

with other Antarctic National Programs, leading to a better management of the Italian program,

increasing partnerships, facilitating science, allowing the air transportation of personnel at the end

of the season, minimizing the need of a chartered vessel and finally reducing the overall

environmental impact of the Italian expeditions.

In February 2014 the Korean Polar Research Institute KOPRI successfully inaugurated its new

permanent Jang Bogo Station (JBS) in Terra Nova Bay. JBS is located at a distance of 10 km away

from the Italian Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS). The proposed airstrip could became an important

hub for KOPRI air operations and would increase the safety of all the operations in the area. KOPRI

already expressed a favourable opinion about the project offering help to PNRA, in terms of

machineries and transport.

It is unquestioned that sharing such a facility with other Antarctic programs will favour cooperation

between Nations, diminishing overall logistic costs and increasing resources dedicated to science, in

full accordance with the Antarctic Treaty feeling. With this aim PNRA is ready to establish fruitful

cooperation with other National Antarctic programs interested in the proposed facility.


1.3. Preparation and submission of the Draft CEE

The Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) has been developed by the Antarctic

Technical Unit (UTA) of ENEA, in conformity with the guidelines of Annex I to the Protocol on

Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty and Guidelines for Environmental Impact

Assessment in Antarctica (Resolution 4, XXVIII ATCM, 2005).

This work should be considered as the final step of a process started several years ago, consisting of

subsequent IPs drawn to the attention of the Antarctic Treaty parties as soon as aeronautical and

geological studies, conducted to analyse possible solutions and suitable locations, were providing

clear indications to the best route to follow for a definitive solution to the skyway operations at

MZS. The reviewing process continued with the presentation of a “In Progress CEE” document,

annexed to the WP 30/XXXVIII ATCM, with the aim to gather preliminary comments and inputs

from the Italian institutions involved in the governance of the PNRA and of the Antarctic Treaty,

and from the international Antarctic community.

The present document is currently digitally available on PNRA website, while a paper copy will be

circulated to each Contracting Party, and submitted as a Working Paper to Antarctic Treaty

Consultative Meeting (ATCM) XXXIX (23 May 2016, Santiago, Chile) and the Committee for

Environmental Protection (CEP) XIX.

1.4. Laws, standards and guidelines

Italy acceded to the Antarctic Treaty in 1981 and became a Consultative party to the Antarctic

Treaty in 1987. Another milestone was Italy becoming a full member of the Scientific Committee

on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in 1988. Since joining SCAR, Italy has contributed to the growth of

SCAR and benefitted from SCAR’s international network of Antarctic nations.

Italy ratified the Environmental Protocol in 1995. The Environmental Protocol set out

environmental principles, procedures and obligations for the comprehensive protection of the

Antarctic environment and its dependent and associated ecosystems.

COMNAP and the SCAR are two international organizations involved in the Antarctic affairs. Their

guidelines and documents regarding the activities in Antarctica has made reference for the CEE,

particularly the Environmental Monitoring Manual in Antarctica (COMNAP, 2000), The Technical

Standards for Environmental Monitoring in Antarctica (COMNAP, 2000), the Practical Guidelines

for the Development and Design of Environmental Monitoring Programs (COMNAP, 2005b) and

the Guidelines for EIA in Antarctica (COMNAP/ATCM, 2005a).

The construction and operation of new proposed airstrip will enforce strictly relevant domestic

environmental laws and guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment.


1.5. Project management system

Under the direct PNRA leadership of MIUR, ENEA UTA takes responsibility for coordinating the

design, construction and operability of the proposed gravel runway.

Supported by its long experience in operating ice airstrips in MZS, ENEA UTA has broadly

analysed and tested alternatives to the proposed facility, compared and studied various modes of

construction, conducted on-site investigations in several locations, accepted comments and

recommendations from specialists in scientific research, environmental impact and aircraft logistics

and management. The design and location of the airstrip facility gives priorities to the

environmental protection, safety and impact mitigation.

Four summer seasons are estimated to be necessary to perform the construction works. So, starting

the project timeline in the next Antarctic season, the construction of the gravel airstrip is expected

to be completed in 2019-20. Limited trail air operations are planned one season earlier. ENEA UTA

is responsible for the management and maintenance of the facility, along with the implementation

of the follow-up supporting facilities and the environmental management.


2. Description of the Proposed Activity

2.1. Scope

For intercontinental transportation of personnel and freights, the Italian Program relies on two

transportation methods: flights and a multipurpose ice class ship, which is also used to refuel the

station and for the oceanographic campaigns. International cooperation provides an essential

support.

Flights are currently operated chartering an Hercules L100/30 aircraft and realizing a fast ice

runway at the beginning of the summer campaign in the Gerlache Inlet (Figure 2.1). This ice

runway is of crucial importance for the execution of the Italian scientific activities allowing the

opening of MZS in late October. In the last years however, a significant environmental variability

was observed and resulted in an premature closing of the fast ice runway, and related logistic

difficulties affecting the scientific activity.

Other landing possibilities on ice were considered. A blue ice area on the Nansen Ice Sheet, at about

30 km north of the Station, was investigated in 2004/05. The runway was built in 2006 and some

test flights were carried out with positive result. However, starting from 2009 the area was no more

suitable because the surface of the glacier was crossed from deep ruts caused by increased water

streaming (see in Paragraph 3.3.2).

Figure 2.1: The Hercules aircraft landing at the Gerlache Inlet fast ice runway.


In addition, without the US NSF support, our scientific activities would be seriously affected as the

Italian National Antarctic Program is strongly dependent, especially for the evacuation of personnel

at the end of the operative season, upon the establishment of cooperation agreements in particular

when the multipurpose ice class ship is not chartered.

The driving force of the proposal is the need of PNRA to have a long term solution for the adequate

transportation of personnel and materials, considering the climatic changes experienced during last

years that strongly affected operations and allowing greater effectiveness of scientific research and

a more reliable multi-year programming.

A gravel runway would be an important permanent infrastructure to share with other Antarctic

National Programs that could change the management of the Italian Program, increasing

partnerships, facilitating science, allowing the air transportation of personnel at the end of the

season and reducing to the minimum the need to charter a vessel from Italy, thus lowering the

overall human footprint and the logistical cost of the expeditions.

The use of this infrastructure will not be allowed for touristic activities.

2.2. Location of the activity

The proposed site for the runway is located about 6 km South of the Italian Antarctic Research

Station Mario Zucchelli, in the Northern Foothills, a line of coastal hills on the west side of Terra

Nova Bay (Victoria Land), lying southward of Browning Pass and forming a peninsular

continuation of the Deep Freeze Range. The area is partially covered only by local glaciers and

snowfields and it is extended in shape from the South to the North, parallel to the coast and spaced

by ice free areas, which step down to the sea.

In the same area are also located the German Gondwana Station and the Korean Jang Bogo Station

(Figure 2.2), while recently the construction of a new research station at Inexpressible Island (about

25 km South of MZS) has been proposed by China.

In this area only two locations on the land were considered as adequate for the construction of a

gravel runway (Figure 2.3), “Boulder Clay” (BC - 74° 44’45’’S, 164°01'17’’E, 205m a.s.l.) and

“Campo Antenne” (74°42’19”S, 164°06’20”E 100m a.s.l.).

The criteria that guided the choice of the locations for the airfield were:

- Minimum impacted surface;

- Levelness of the surface;

- Soil type;

- Orientation of the runway direction to the stronger winds;

- Absence of obstacles on the flight line of approach;

- Accessibility to the area from MZS station.


The two identified sites show some of the above mentioned features in a complementary way.

Campo Antenne site has the great advantage of being closer to the station and with a good quality of

the soil (granite rock). By contrast the runway would have a slope at the upper limit of the air traffic

regulations and a maximum length at limit for the Lockheed Hercules requirements.

Figure 2.2: Regional map of the Terra Nova Bay area.


Figure 2.3: Evidence of ASPA n°161 and Adélie Cove respect Boulder Clay runway, Enigma Lake skiway and

the alternative site of Campo Antenne.


On the other side Boulder Clay site, even though more distant from the station and being a moraine

soil resting on a glacier, has flight approaches free from obstacles, its realization requires less than

half of the construction effort compared to Campo Antenne and allows a development in length up

to 2200 m. The last feature should allow in the future PNRA to partly replace the Hercules aircraft

with more eco-friendly "liners" (jet aircrafts produced in very large numbers and used by airline

companies due to their longer flight endurance and lower both chemical pollution and noise

emission). The long range aircrafts should also have a clear environmental advantage of not

refuelling in Antarctica. Moreover, a longer airstrip would become the alternate runway in the area

of the Ross Sea (not available at present) for aircrafts other than Hercules, flying for the national

Antarctic programs as the C-17, the Boeing 757, the A-319, the Orion P -3 and the Challenger.

For the above mentioned features and keeping in major consideration the reduction of the overall

environmental impact of the proposed activity, Boulder Clay site was finally chosen. A detailed

description of the alternative site of Campo Antenne and the evaluation of its features will be given

in the next chapter.

Boulder Clay is a glacier belonging to the Northern Foothills area (Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land,

Antarctica) that represents a low coastal range comprised between Cape Russel (74°54' S), glacier

belonging to the Northern Foothills area (Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica) that

represents a low coastal range comprised between Cape Russel (74°54' S), Mt. Browning (74°36' S)

and the Campbell (164°27' E) and Priestley (163°31' E) Glaciers [2.1].

This area was described in the past by several authors, from 1914 [2.2] to nowadays [2.3] especially

under the geological, glaciological and geomorphological aspects. The area is mainly an ice-

covered landscape, the ice-free areas are few, the main landforms are controlled by the structural

trend and by glacial erosion while the periglacial processes actively drive the evolution of the

subaerial landforms.

The Boulder Clay Glacier is oriented parallel to the coast, elongated for about 6 km from south to

north (about 1.5 km wide) between Adélie Cove and Enigma Lake, a small frozen lake, and it is

supposed to be dry based. Besides, it is partially covered by a heterogeneous debris size ice-cored

moraine that occupies more than half of its surface (Boulder Clay Moraine).

The Boulder Clay Moraine consists of a discontinuous sheet of glacial sediment locally ice-cored

and widely affected by ice-wedge polygons. In particular there is an ablation till, 0.4 - 1.0 m thick,

that overlies a body of dead glacier or buried glacial ice (thick greater than 60 m). In the upper part

the ice is highly variable in composition, typically appearing foliated and containing fine sediment

layers. The site, in its snow covered area, is currently used as an emergency landing site for Twin

Otters in case of strong winds.

The permafrost conditions present at Boulder Clay have been monitored since December 1996 and

it results the presence of an active layer thickness of a few tens of centimetres. On the moraine,


several small frozen lakes (known in the literature as Lake Ice Blisters) are also present. The fluvial

processes are relatively unimportant in the Northern Foothills and the stream channels are

extremely rare. The observations carried out on the Boulder Clay moraine indicate limited

groundwater movement.

An Adélie Penguin colony is located in the south coast respect to the proposed area, at Adelie Cove.

The colony site is also interested by the presence of Antarctic skuas, without nest evidence. This

fauna, considering the altitude difference and about 1.8 km distance will not be directly involved by

the construction activity and aviation operations of the airstrip.

Boulder Clay is bordered east and south with ASPA n°161 Antarctic Special Protected Area. A

coastal marine area of 29.4 km2, encompassing Adelie Cove, was proposed by Italy as Antarctic

Special Protected Area (ASPA), being an important littoral area for well-established and long-term

scientific investigations. The Area is confined to a narrow strip of waters extending approximately

9.4 km in length immediately to the south of the Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS) and up to a

maximum of 7 km from the shore (Figure 2.3).

The human impacts within the area are believed to be minimal and confined to those arising from

the nearby Mario Zucchelli Station, the proposed activity and scientific work conducted within the

area.

An atmospheric monitoring facility (locally referred to as ‘Campo Icaro’) is located approximately

650 m north of the northern boundary of the area and 150 m from the shore: no wastes are produced

and discharged from this facility.

To preserve as pristine as possible the characteristics of the two sites, particular attention will be

carried on aircraft flight path, not permitting the flight on the colony, except for safety reasons, and

fixing limitations in height and space on ASPA n°161 area.

2.3. Airstrip design

2.3.1. General specifications

In the Antarctic regions soils are often frozen at considerable depths year round. Seasonal thawing

and refreezing of the upper layer of permafrost can lead to severe loss of bearing capacity and/or

differential heave. The construction of engineering structures, such as road and airfield

embankments, changes the thermal regime of the ground, and may lead to permafrost degradation

under or adjacent to such structures. This occurs because of changes of the ground-surface energy

balance, which is a complex function of seasonal snow cover, solar and long wave radiation,

moisture content and atmospheric air temperature. All these factors contribute to produce the mean

annual surface temperature, which may differ substantially from the mean annual air temperature.


In general the construction of an embankment results in an increased mean annual surface

temperature, which will increase the thawing of permafrost [2.4]. Therefore, in area with continuous

high-ice-content permafrost at shallow depths, satisfactory pavements are best ensured by

restricting seasonal thawing to the pavement and to a non-frost susceptible base course. This

approach is intended to prevent degradation (thawing) of the permafrost layer.

Gravel surfaced pavements are rather common in permafrost areas and generally will provide

satisfactory service. These pavements often exhibit considerable degradation but are rather easily

reconditioned, maintenance and repair are considered in the design.

2.3.2. Project description

The layout of the runway was based on a topographic survey performed at the Boulder Clay site

with a laser scanner technique during the XXVIII Italian Antarctic Expedition. This allowed to

design and position the embankment and the related facilities minimizing the volume needed for

works, following, to the maximum possible extent, the natural orography of the moraine

The project comprises the realization of a gravel embankment runway 2,200 m long and 60 m wide

(45 m of runway + 7.5 m of shoulders on each side), as shown in Figure 2.5. The embankment is

forecasted to be subdivided into four construction phases:

Phase 1 of 400 m length from CH 0+000 to CH 0+400




The embankment longitudinal centreline runs in direction NNE-SSW, at an elevation of about 200

m a.s.l.. With reference to the centreline of the longitudinal profile, the existing ground level shows

an elevation difference of about 6m (205.6m at CH 0+700 and 200 at CH 0+000) while

transversally the slope is significant, with a maximum elevation difference of 5m. This variation is

in agreement with the south-eastern exposure slope of the Boulder Clay moraine, and for this reason

the embankment will have a minimum thickness of 0.6 m on the high side and a maximum

thickness of about 5 m on the low side. The embankment side slope will be sloped with 1V:1.5H

geometry and made of rock block.

The runway has been designed for 0% transversal slope and very limited longitudinal slope (up to

0.8%). The runway layout has been designed to avoid the superimposition on the lake ice blisters

present in the moraine. The runway embankment is intended to be constructed using the material

available from the nearby area.

Figure 2.4 (a) and (b) shows the moraine and the lake ice blister, respectively.


(a)

(b)

Figure 2.4: Boulder Clay Moraine (a) and Lake ice blister (b) at Boulder Clay Site (11 November 2014).


Figure 2.5: Runway layout with the four construction phases.


2.3.3. Runway facilities

Figure 2.6 illustrates the planned facilities. The different areas object of the project will be :

landing area: consisting of the runway itself (including thresholds) for landing and for take-

off of aircraft;

transit surfaces: consisting of the taxiways that connect the parking areas to the runways;

apron: area destined for refuelling, for boarding/disembarking passengers, for the

loading/unloading of goods and to overhaul and repair aircrafts;

service area: area including the terminal, shed and helipads.

Figure 2.6: Runway facilities: Apron, taxiways, fuel tank, helipad, and vehicle access road.


Taxiway

The traffic routes in question consist of a single way (70 m long, 25 m width) connecting the apron

to the runway; it has an orthogonal axis with the runway and accordingly it is defined as connecting

link.

Apron

The apron is intended for aircraft parking and preparation for their operational tasks, and for the

first and second maintenance level, including periodic inspections of the aircraft; in particular, it

provides for the stationing of two Hercules aircraft and, considering the overall dimensions and the

related safety clearances, a surface of 130x134 m is required.

In addition to this surface, in order to minimize FOD problems, 3 m in width, for fixed wing

shoulders must be provided. The entire perimeter of the apron should be made of compacted soil

and levelled.

Due to the orography of ground and low number of aircrafts present at the same time (less than 10)

only one access point for mass parking and one individual parking platform are required. Besides,

an helipad is designed to provide an emergency use for operational redundancy.

Fire service

The general criteria proposed for fire services follows ICAO standards.

The rules establish the minimum extinguishing potential in terms of quantity and quality of the

agents used, as well as fire-fighting vehicles which must be operationally available, classifying

airports in nine categories, depending on the maximum size of the aircraft; on the basis of this

definition this airstrip is classified in ICAO Category 6 (length of the aircraft between 28 and 39 m,

and width of the fuselage below 5 m). It follows that for operations the airstrip must be equipped

with at least 2 independent fire fighting vehicles.

Similarly, it is identified the minimum extinguishing potential in terms of quantity and quality of

the agents used (proteinaceous foam agents or filming agents); in particular the runway must be

equipped with:

at least 11,000 litres of water and proteinaceous foam disbursed through a discharge

capacity of at least 6,000 litres per minute; as an alternative to proteinaceous foam, at least

7,900 litres of water and filming agents or fluoro-proteinaceous foam disbursed through a

discharge capacity of at least 4,000 litres per minute;

in addition, it should be added an amounts of complementary agents to the foam, in

particular: 225 kg of chemical powder or 450 kg of CO2.

The operational area is provided with a shed to recover at least two fire trucks; this will ensure the

minimum provision also in case one is unavailable.


The structure for the shelter of the fire trucks will be made of steel or at least in a non-combustible

material; it provides an area designated for the parking of fire-fighting trucks (not less than 7x14

m2) positioned so as to be ready for use, an area for materials storage, an area for storage of the

extinguishers and one used for office; the structure has exits of adequate width for the simultaneous

passage of at least two fire-fighting vehicles and one or more independent exits for the staff.

Fuel Deposit

The fuel (Jet A-1 category) will be stored in a double walled stainless steel tank, with a total

capacity of 44,000 l (see Figure 2.6) enough to provide the refuelling capacity needed for two

Hercules intercontinental flights. The tank will be mounted on sledge, facilitating the transportation

and dismantling.

Refuelling will be provided by 2 truck tanks moved from MZS to the Apron.

Terminal and shed

The reception facility will be installed on the south side of the apron. The structure, constituted by 6

20-foot ISO standard equipped insulated container, will consist in waiting room, offices and

chemical toilet services. The preassembled structure will be totally modular, simplifying extension,

moving and dismantling.

A shed (14x7x5 m) will be installed in the southward side of the apron, in a underlying platform.

The preassembled structure, similar to other warehouse and hangar present at MZS, will store the

GPU (ground power unit) for the aircraft, the refuelling pump, firefighting vehicles and forklift.

Operation room

An operations room close to AWS Rita, at 265 m a.s.l. will be installed and will serve the two

skiways at Enigma Lake and the future Boulder Clay runway. These skiways have been existing for

almost 10 years, but their traffic is even now managed by radio, without a direct control, from the

Operations Room of MZS.

The operation room will, in prospective, be equipped with a state of the art remote sensing and

camera system that would allow remoted management of landing, taxing, ground handling and

taking-off. This has been demonstrated for the case of Örnsköldsvik Airport (Sweden) connected to

Remote Tower Centre of Sundsvall-Timrå Airport (Sweden). ICAO regulation will be followed at

this regard.

The facility, conceived as two 20-foot ISO standard equipped container, will be located on the top

of a hill in order to allow an unobstructed view over the three runways and the entire operational

area.


Power

Concerning electrical power and heating of the installations, the buildings will be provided with a

solar photovoltaic power plant of 25 kW for the production of electrical energy combined with a

traditional power generator of 20 kW, that will act like backup system only. The use of this

generator, in any case, will not be continuous but will be dependent upon the planned flight

activities. For the heating and hot water production, solar thermal collectors of 5 kW will be

installed. Both, the electrical and thermal systems should cover the energy needs of these

installations

2.3.4. Mechanical properties of soil

The definition of geotechnical parameters is based on the results of the ground investigations,

carried out during the XXVIII, XXIX and XXX Antarctica expeditions. The soil samples collected

during the XXIX Antarctica expedition were examined at 2° Reparto Genio Areonautica Militare –

Laboratorio Principale Prove e Materiali Edili, while the samples collected during the XXVIII

Antarctica expedition were examined at the Laboratory of Applied Geology of the Sapienza

University of Roma.

The site investigation consisted of Clegg Hammer compaction tests and dynamic Light Weight

Deflectometer (LWD) tests performed on the natural and non-compacted morainic debris. The

laboratory tests consist in sieve analyses, Modified Proctor test and Standard Proctor test.

Figure 2.7 shows the location of the ground investigations of the XXIX and XXVIII expeditions:

the blue labels refer to the XXIX Antarctica expedition and the green labels to the XXVIII

Antarctica expedition.

The site investigations carried out with the Clegg Hammer tests in early November 2013 reported

an average CBR of 39%, in agreement with the site investigation carried out with the LWD in the

same period (average 38.0%). Based on the available temperature data, these values are considered

representative for the period of the year ranging from February to November, when the registered

temperatures are equal or below those at which the site tests were carried out.


Figure 2.7: Ground investigations location (blue labels =XXIX Antarctica expedition, green labels = XXVIII

Antarctica expedition).

Typically CBR values are correlated to the type of soil units, as shown in Figure 2.8 [2.5].

Accordingly, site investigation results classify the soil (according to USCS Soil Class) ranging from

well-graded with small silt content (SM) or clean (SW) Sands and Sandy soils to well graded with

small silt content gravel/sand mixtures (GM).


Clegg Hammer test carried out in December 2013, January, November and December 2014 give

CBR values ranging from 4% to 37%. Average values are as follows:

26% on the second week of November 2014;

25% on the third week of November 2014;

18% on the first week of December 2014;

4% on the second week of December 2013;

4% on the third week of January 2014.

These results are in agreement with the seasonal thawing the moraine is subjected to, and

correspond to a reduced CBR value during the summer time.

Figure 2.8: Typical CBR values [2.5].

The range and frequency distribution of particle sizes, shown in Figure 2.9 and Figure 2.10, classify

the soil as a moraine deposits with its typical spread grain size distribution curve that ranges from

clay to cobbles. Figure 2.11 and Figure 2.12 show photos of the material representing the

composition of the moraine at Boulder Clay site, the coarse bulky particles being sub-angular to

angular shaped.

Although cobbles and boulders are present on site, as shown in Figure 2.13, prior to the sieve

analysis grain size greater than 60 mm were removed from the specimens and they are not reported

in the grain size distribution.

Further, it is noted that the percentage of the fine-grained soils (silt and clay) is very low, ranging

from 5% to 20% with an average of 10%. This result is in agreement with the extreme site condition

that is affected by strong wind during winter responsible for transporting away the smaller

sediments from the superficial strata.


Figure 2.9: Grain size distribution (XXIX Antarctica expedition).

Figure 2.10: Grain size distribution (XXVIII Antarctica expedition).

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0.0010.0100.1001.00010.000100.000

Le

ss th

an

D (

%)

Grain diameter D (mm)

PEBBLES

GRAVEL SAND SILT

CLAYG M F G M F G M F

60 20 6.0 2.0 0.6 0.2 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.002

ASTM n 104 20 80 20040

S3-S4Grain size distribution

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0.0010.0100.1001.00010.000100.000

Le

ss th

an

D (

%)


PEBBLESGRAVEL SAND SILT

CLAYG M F G M F G M F

60 20 6.0 2.0 0.6 0.2 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.002

ASTM n 104 20 80 20040

045/14-046/14-047/14-048/14Grain size distribution


Figure 2.11: Moraine material at Boulder Clay site in a square meter (12 November 2014).

Figure 2.12: Moraine material at Boulder Clay site (12 November 2014).

1 m

1 m

13 cm


Figure 2.13: Boulders and cobbles at Boulder Clay site (12 November 2014).


One Standard Proctor test was carried out according to ASTM D698-07 at the Laboratory of

Applied Geology of the Sapienza University of Roma, on a sample collected during the XXVIII

Antarctica expedition. A second compaction test was carried out according to AASHTO T180

(modified Proctor) at the 2° Reparto Genio Aeronautica Militare - Laboratorio Principale Prove e

Materiali Edili on a sample collected during the XXIX Antarctica expedition.

Typically, maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture content are correlated to soil type as

shown in Figure 2.14 [2.5]. The obtained relevant result is in agreement with the sieve analysis and

classify the soil as well graded with small silt content gravel/sand mixtures (GM).

Figure 2.14: Typical compacted densities and optimum moisture contents [2.5].

In order to achieve more information about the till moraine several geophysical and topographical

activities were carried out during the 2013-2015 surveys. In particular, Ground Penetrating Radar

(GPR) survey, activities were initialized focusing on a comprehensive evaluation of the site

condition with the following main goals:

Average thickness of debris along the till moraine;

Bedrock morphology in the Boulder Clay area;

Lake-ice blisters present in the area.


Due to the extension of the surveyed area, both airborne and on-ground GPR measures were

collected. Figure 2.15 reports the map of the averaged thickness data recorded by the airborne

survey. As it is shown, in the area of interest, the till moraine thickness varies between 0.4 to 1.0 m,

with an average thickness of about 0.8 m.

Based on the available information it can be concluded that the material available on site can be

considered a satisfactory subgrade for the embankment and a good to excellent material to be used

for the construction of the embankment.

Figure 2.15: Representative map of debris thickness.


2.4. Airstrip construction and maintenance

2.4.1. Engineering design

In general the structural design of airport pavements consists of determining both the overall

pavement thickness and the thickness of the component parts of the pavement. The factors that

influence the required thickness of pavement are the following:

magnitude of the airplane loads;

volume of traffic;

strength of the subgrade soil;

quality of materials that make up the pavement structure.

Due to the particular environmental Antarctic conditions, the embankment design took into account

the following aspects:

Permafrost protection.

Geotechnical characteristics, according to U.S. Department of Transportation [2.6] and

Transport Canada [2.7].

Minimum volume of rock needed for the embankment and works

2.4.2. Embankment design

Permafrost Protection

The design adopted for the proposed airstrip follows the Air Convection Embankments (ACE)

technique. These embankments are constructed of poorly-graded open aggregate with a low fine

content, resulting in very high air permeability. Unstable air density gradients that develop within

the embankment during winter result in buoyancy-induced pore air convection (dense cool air

moves downward pushing warm air upward). This convection increases the heat flux out of the

embankment and foundation material during winter months. During summer, the air density

gradient is stable and convection does not occur (warm air at the top and cold air at the bottom).

The net effect is an increase in winter cooling without a corresponding increase in summer

warming, so that thawing is reduced in the permafrost layer beneath the embankment [2.8].

The embankment will be therefore constituted by graded filters, which consists of layers of granular

material that prevent the movement of particles subjected to erosion. Successively more permeable

and coarse grained soils are placed. Such that the fine constituents of each layer cannot be washed

into the voids of the succeeding layer).

Figure 2.16 and Table 2.1 summarize the three grain size distribution ranges corresponding to the

surface, the base course, and the sub-base respectively following the results of a trial embankment

carried out on site. In particular, the first sub-base layer will be composed by crushed rock and

coarse gravel; the base course will be composed by coarse to medium gravel; the surface layer by


coarse to fine gravel. Furthermore, the surface temperature can be reduced by a light colour

material, such as crushed granite (first 5 cm), which will increase the albedo of the surface and

thereby lead to a reduced thickness of the active layer in permafrost areas underneath embankments.

Figure 2.16: Sub-base, base course, surface Grain size distribution and relative layers

Table 2.1: Grain Diameter less than values (mm).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

0.0010.0100.1001.00010.000100.0001000.000

Le

ss th

an

D (

%)


PEBBLE

GRAVEL SAND SILT

CLAYC M F C M F C M F

60 20 6. 2.0 0. 0. 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.002

ASTM n 104 20 80 2040

Grain size distribution

surface

base course

subbase

moraine deposit

passing (%) Sub-base Base course Surface

100 120.0 80.0 70.6 36.4 32.1 15.2

95 80.0 53.3 47.1 24.2 21.4 10.1

85 56.0 37.3 32.9 17.0 15.0 7.1

70 41.0 27.3 24.1 12.4 11.0 5.2

60 36.0 24.0 21.2 10.9 9.6 4.5

50 32.0 21.3 18.8 9.7 8.6 4.0

40 29.0 19.3 17.1 8.8 7.8 3.7

25 28.0 18.7 16.5 8.5 7.5 3.5

10 27.0 18.0 15.9 8.2 7.2 3.4

4 26.5 17.7 15.6 8.0 7.1 3.3


Embankment design: geotechnical and environmental aspects

In order to determine the minimum embankment thickness (thus reducing the environmental impact

related to the scraping of the surface, rock crushing and screening using heavy equipment), the

following assumptions have been made:

flexible pavement based on CBR method of design;

reduced subgrade strength providing adequate load carrying capacity during the frost

melting period.

The design of a flexible pavement is based on the empirical CBR design method. Gear

configurations are considered using theoretical concepts as well as empirically developed data.

FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) provide guidance to determine the required total thickness

of flexible pavement (surface, base, and sub-base) needed to support a given weight of aircraft over

a particular subgrade.

Consideration should be given on the choice of adopting the “reduced subgrade strength method”.

As stated in AC150/5320-6E U.S. Department of Transportation, the protection of pavements from

the adverse seasonal frost and permafrost effects may be based on either of two approaches. The

first approach is based on the control of pavement deformations resulting from frost action. In this

case, sufficient combined thickness of pavement and non-frost-susceptible material must be

provided to eliminate, or limit to an acceptable amount, frost penetration into the subgrade and its

adverse effects. The second approach is based on providing adequate pavement load carrying

capacity during the critical frost melting period. This second approach provides for the loss of load

carrying capacity due to frost melting but ignores the effects of frost heave.

Three design procedures that encompass the approaches have been developed and they are shortly

reported below for comprehensiveness.

Complete Frost Protection (1). Complete frost protection is accomplished by providing a sufficient

thickness of pavement and non-frost-susceptible material to completely prevent frost/thaw

penetration. The method can be based respectively on the thaw penetration or frost penetration

depth which are determined in similar empirical ways. The depth of thaw penetration is based on

the air thawing index, average wind speed during the thaw period, pavement type, and density of

the permafrost layer. The thawing index used for design should be based on the three warmest

summers in the last 30 years of record or the warmest summer in the last 10 years. The difference

between the determined depth of seasonal thaw and the thickness needed for structural support is

the amount of non-frost-susceptible material that must be provided to fully contain the depth of

seasonal thaw. Complete frost protection method applies to FG-3 and FG-4 soils (see Table 2.2 for

soil frost group definitions), which are extremely variable in horizontal extent. These soil deposits

are characterized by very large, frequent, and abrupt changes in frost heave potential.


Table 2.2: Soil Frost Groups [2.6].

Limited Subgrade Frost Penetration (2). The limited subgrade frost penetration method is based on

holding frost heave to a tolerable level. Frost is allowed to penetrate a limited amount into the

underlying frost susceptible subgrade. Sixty-five percent of the depth of frost penetration is made

up with non-frost-susceptible material. Use of the method is similar to the complete protection

method. Additional frost protection is required if the thickness of the structural section is less than

65 % of the frost penetration. The limited subgrade frost penetration method allows a tolerable

amount of frost heave. This design method should be used for FG-4 soils but can be applied to soils

in frost groups FG-1, FG-2, and FG-3 (see Table 2.2 for soil frost group definitions).

Reduced Subgrade Strength (3). The reduced subgrade strength method is based on the concept of

providing a pavement with adequate load carrying capacity during the frost melting period. Use of

the reduced subgrade strength method involves assigning a subgrade strength rating to the pavement

for the frost melting period. The various soil frost groups should be assigned strength ratings as

shown in Table 2.3. This method is recommended for FG-1, FG-2, and FG-3 subgrades, which are

uniform in horizontal extent (see Table 2.2 for soil frost group definitions)

Table 2.3: Reduced Subgrade Strength ratings [2.6].

Both Complete Frost Protection (1) and Reduced Subgrade Strength (3) methods have been

considered for the design of the runway embankment. It was preferred to proceed adopting the

Reduced Subgrade Strength method for the following two reasons:

1. In order to satisfy the convection embankment technique requirements, the embankment is

designed with non-frost susceptible material as shown in Figure 2.16. The method (1)


based on the freezing/thaw index determine the amount of non-frost-susceptible material

that must be provided to contain the depth of seasonal thaw/frost which in this case results

already fulfilled.

2. The natural thermal regime of the ground comprises seasonal thawing and refreezing of the

upper layer of the permafrost that lead to a loss of bearing capacity. By preventing the

degradation of the permafrost layer seasonal thawing should remain constant (or follow its

natural course) and it is therefore important to base the pavement design on a reduced

subgrade strength that will capture this condition.

FAA suggests different reduced subgrade strength ratings in function of the frost group material and

the type of pavement (flexible Vs rigid). In the present case a CBR value of 8 was assumed,

according to the above mentioned guidelines. However, based on site test results, a CBR value of 6

and 4 have also been investigated.

The base course represents the principal structural component with the major function of

distributing the imposed wheel loadings to the subgrade. In general, the base course must be of such

quality and thickness to prevent failure in the subgrade, withstand the stresses produced in the base

itself, resist vertical pressure tending to produce consolidation and resulting in distortion of the

surface course, and resist volume changes caused by fluctuations in its moisture content. The

quality of the base course depends upon composition, physical properties and compaction. Many

material and combinations thereof have proved to be satisfactory as base course, Figure 2.17 reports

a list of material suggested by the U.S. Department of Transportation [2.6].

Figure 2.17: Materials for use of Base Course [2.6].

A sub-base is included as an integral part of the flexible pavement structure in all pavements except

those on subgrade with a CBR value of 20 or greater (usually GW or GP type of soils). The function

of the sub-base is similar to that of the base course and any material suitable for use as base course

can also be used on sub-base.

In general the subgrade soil are subjected to lower stresses than the surface, base and sub-base

courses. Subgrade stresses attenuate with depth, and the controlling subgrade stress is usually at the


top of the subgrade, unless unusual conditions exist. FAA indicates depths below the subgrade

surface to which compaction control apply for construction and density control of subgrade soil,

depending on the design aircraft.

FAARFIELD (FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layered Design) software, version 1.305,

was used to determine the minimum layer thickness. The software is the Standard Thickness Design

Software accompanying the [2.6] Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation.

The obtained thicknesses are shown in Figure 2.18 to Figure 2.20 for the three reduced CBR values

considered for the subgrade.

According to these values, a minimum thickness of 0.6 m has been adopted in the design,

corresponding to a reduced CBR value of 8%, adopted in accordance with the [2.6] and in

correspondence with the weakened condition due to frost melting.

However, the above mentioned reduced value does not reflect the worst condition corresponding to

a CBR value of 4% (measured on the natural morainic debris). This degradation of the subgrade

takes place during a very limited period of the year (middle December to late January) and it was

thus decided not to penalize the design prescribing a minimum thickness of 0.78 m in order to

optimize costs and material requirements.

In this respect it should be noted that the average thickness of the embankment is more than 1.0 m

and localized area might require greater maintenance intervention during the month of January.

Further, individual thicknesses where determined for the three layers having the following geometry

and minimum CBR: 25 cm of surface layer with CBR=21.5%, 16 cm of base course layer with

CBR=24%, and 19 cm of sub-base layer with CBR=33%.

The CBR values of the base course and sub-base layer corresponds to the lower bound of the typical

CBR values correlated to the type of soil units as shown in Figure 2.8 [2.5]. The CBR value of the

surface layer is based on unpaved surface requirements for shear strength, as discussed in the

sequel.

The runway is designed with an unpaved surface according to Unpaved Runway Surfaces [2.7].

Gravel surfaces deteriorate with time and under repeated traffic loadings. The most common defects

occurring with gravel surfaces are frost heaves, depressions, soft spots and loss of aggregates.

Periodic grading, compaction and addition of new material are required to maintain the integrity of

the gravel surface and to ensure the safe operation of aircraft.

The shear strength of gravel surfaces depends on the interlock of aggregates and internal friction.

The surface shear strength also depends on the properties of the surface materials under the

influence of moisture. This results in the surfaces of unpaved runways being susceptible to shear

failures, in particular in wet conditions.


Figure 2.18: FAARFIELD software

results for a subgrade with a reduced

CBR=8% [2.6].



CBR=6% [2.6].



CBR=4% [2.6].


The surface shear strength of unpaved runway is usually expressed in terms of CBR value. In

particular, AC 300-004 [2.7] correlates the maximum tire pressure depending on the CBR value

measured with Boeing Penetrometer, as shown in Figure 2.21. The curve indicates that a runway

has sufficient surface strength for aircraft operations provided the tire pressure in psi is less than or

equal to 5 times the CBR as measured with the Boeing High Load Penetrometer, which corresponds

to a CBR minimum of 21.5% for the design under consideration.

The Boeing High Load Penetrometer consists of a hydraulic cylinder with a cone point test probe

mounted at the rod end. The hydraulic cylinder is normally positioned against the frame of a heavy

vehicle which serves as a reactive load. In the test procedure, the probe is driven at a steady rate to a

100 mm (4 inch) depth into the surface by the application of pressure through a hand pump.

Figure 2.21: Tire Pressure Restriction vs CBR Measured with Boeing Penetrometer [2.7].

The convection embankment design has been summarized by detailed drawings as stated below:

Figure 2.22: example of longitudinal profiles;

Figure 2.23: embankment transverse section with details;

Figure 2.24: construction phases.

As it is shown in Figure 2.23 the thickness of the surface and base course layer are kept constant as

determined, while the sub-base layer has a variable thickness in order to adapt to the slope of the

ground level. In this respect, where the sub-base layer should be more than 30 cm, the additional

amount of material could be obtained as moraine, as it is found in place. In addition, the scope of

the shoulders of the embankment is to protect the structure from adverse erosion condition. In order


to combine this requirement with the use of the existing material on site it is advisable to form the

shoulders with pebbles and crushed fragments having diameter ranging from 10 to 50 cm.

Figure 2.22: Runway profile d-d (centreline).


Figure 2.23: Detail of Runway section, with embankment and shoulders profile.


Figure 2.24: Construction phases.


2.4.3. Numerical modelling

A series of preliminary thermal models of the embankments were carried out in order to test the

effectiveness of the design theory as well as to optimize the test-site embankment.

The modelling was carried out with the finite element software TEMP/W in combination with

SEEP/W-AIR/W from GEO-SLOPE International Ltd. TEMP/W is a finite element software that

models thermal changes in the ground due to different causes.

In the present case, the key modelling assumption made in the analyses is that the moisture content

of the ground is constant through the process. In addition, frost heave or any volumetric changes are

not predicted, because the modelling is aimed at forecasting only heat conduction processes.

To establish the initial pore-water/pore-air and temperature conditions, a steady-state SEEP/W-

AIR/W and TEMP/W analysis is first required. Then, TEMP/W uses the liquid water and air fluxes

to compute and assemble the advective heat transfer terms into the global finite element equations.

The model geometry is represented in Figure 2.25

Figure 2.25and corresponds to a section (phase 4), as reported in Figure 2.23. As it is shown the

mesh is formed by quadrilateral and triangular elements with increased density within the

embankment. The model has been simplified and 3 different materials have been defined: subgrade,

surface and sub-base. As it can been seen in Figure 2.25 sub-base material has been used to model

the side shoulders and the base-coarse layers.

Figure 2.25: Model geometry.

The boundary conditions are as follows:

1. Initial Conditions: Steady-state analyses

The SEEP/W-AIR/W analysis was performed by applying a null hydraulic pressure at the original

ground surface and a zero pore-air pressure at the top of the embankment. These boundary

conditions result in hydrostatic pore-air and pore-water distributions.

2. Transient Convective Heat Flow Analyses

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1 01 1

1 21 3

1 4

1 5

1 6

1 7

1 8

Distance (m)

-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Ele

vation (

m)

188

190

192

194

196

198

200

202

204

206

208

-45 -30 -15 0 15 30 45 Clarence (m)

Ele

vati

on

(m

)

208

204

200

196

192

188


A total head of 0 m was applied to the entire domain throughout the duration of the SEEP/W

transient analysis. This boundary condition ensures that the water remains hydrostatic, despite the

fluctuation in air pressure.

Three harmonic temperature functions representing the temperature fluctuation with time were

applied to the existing ground level (outside the embankment), to the side-slope and top of the

embankment, and to a depth of 60 cm below the ground surface. These functions are defined over

365 days, based on available temperature data for the site. Ultimately a geothermal ground heat flux

of 5.2 kJ/day/m2 was applied to the bottom of the domain.

The geotechnical, hydraulic and thermal material properties used for the models are summarized in

Table 2.4. These parameters are based on available literature data [2.9] and [2.10].

Table 2.4: Material Properties adopted in the numerical analyses

Units Subgrade

Subbase & Base Course

& shoulders surface

Hydraulic Conductivity (m/day) 1 50 1

water content (%) 0.3 0.01 0.1

Frozen Heat Capacity (kJ/m3/°C) 2,079 2,079 2,191

Unfrozen Heat Capacity (kJ/m3/°C) 3,150 3,150 3,061

The harmonic temperatures distribution were simulated cycling for 5 years using time steps of 1 day

with adaptive time stepping having a minimum and a maximum allowable time step of 0.25 day and

1 day, respectively.

Results are showed in Figure 2.26 and in Figure 2.27. As expected, during the summer months, the

air density gradient is stable and the air fluxes are negligible (warm air at the top and cold air at the

bottom). Conduction dominates the heat transfer process and temperature contours are relatively

horizontal within the embankment.

During winter or when the temperature at the surface is lower than the temperature at the base of the

embankment, convective cells develop within the embankment, as shown in Figure 2.26 and in

Figure 2.27 for different time step. The air convection develops through the entire embankment,

even if it is noted that distinctive big convection cells develop close to the shoulder of the

embankment and not along the entire thicknesses.

Sensitivity analyses were also carried out by considering different values of air hydraulic

conductivity and the results obtained are consistent with those above shown.


Figure 2.26: Numerical result – convective cells and temperatures (Day 220).

Figure 2.27: Numerical result – convective cells and temperatures (Day 270).

The analysis herein presented gave a basis for the design by assessing the development of natural

convection of the pore air in the gravel embankment due to temperature gradients.

2.4.4. Material requirements and quarries

On the basis of the available survey, the discussed layout and the embankment profile, the volume

of material required to form the embankment was estimated. Figure 2.23 shows the typical cross

section of the runway. Table 2.5 summarizes the volume required in details per each phase for the

construction of the embankment and the rockfill shoulders.

-34

-2

8

-24

-22

Distance (m)

-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

-2

2

-20

-16

-16

Distance (m)

-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50


The runway will be constructed by using essentially the material that will be collected all around the

layout the road to access the site, reported in Figure 2.28, using heavy equipment.

Table 2.5: Volume of material required to realize the embankment

Volume (m

3)

L (m) Main platform of the embankment

East side Rockfill shoulder

West side Rockfill shoulder

Shoulders + Embankment

Phase 1 400 50,230 11,600 1,170 63,000

Phase 2 800 39,850 10,170 380 50,400

Phase 3 600 99,820 19,170 1,410 120,400

Phase 4 400 26,520 3,590 190 30,300

Total 216,420 44,530 3,150 264,100

The intention is to use many small quarries that have been visually identified along the road to

access the site. In more details, an outcrop of granite (quarries identified with the n° 1 in Figure

2.29) has been identified near to the east side of chainage 0+000 and this would provide about

16,000 m3. Figure 2.29 shows in magenta colour the available small quarries that could be used

along the road to access the site (see also Table 2.6).

The total area of the quarries pointed out in Figure 2.29 is 285,000 m2, assuming a digging depth of

about 1 meter we obtain a volume of 250,000 m3 of debris. This material, which will constitute the

necessary amount for the gravel embankment, would be exclusively extracted by mechanical

excavation.

Table 2.6: Quarries data (see figure 2.29).

Quarries Area (m2) Volume (m

3)

1 18,000 15,750

2 80,000 70,000

3 60,000 52,500

4 70,000 61,250

5 25,000 21,875

6 35,000 30,625

The sites where we intend to carry out a blasting excavation are the apron zone and the ridges

present on the moraine along the airstrip area at 1,450 m from the north extremity for a total volume

evaluated at about 3,000 m3. The expected explosive’s quantity to be used is 1.0 ton (yield of 0.30

kg/m³).


In these areas blasting activities might be performed with traditional explosive or with the use of

low-water content explosive depending on the temperature. The explosive normally used are

suitable for up to about -5 degrees Celsius, while for temperature that reaches -45 degrees, the

explosive should be composed of granular powder not to damage the dynamite material itself.

The extracted material will be then removed using excavators and dumpers, then transported to the

screening/crusher, where it is shredded and screened according to the grain size indicated in the

project.

In order to crush and select the necessary rock bed for the construction of the airstrip the following

equipment, or others having similar characteristic, have been selected:

Atlas Copco Powercrusher PC 1055 J for crushing

Atlas Copco Powercrusher HSC 3715 IT to select according to the requested grain diameter.

Figure 2.28: Roads to access the runway site at Boulder Clay.


Figure 2.29: Potential quarries location (in magenta).


2.4.5. Construction Method

Case histories: The definition of the method for the runway construction and maintenance took into

account the results of similar works and tests regarding convection embankment or unpaved gravel

runway carried out mainly in the Arctic, where the climatic conditions more resemble those of

MZS.

Tasiujaq Airport (Canada), a runway located in the south-western part of Ungava Bay at

58°71'N and 69°82'W, that suffered depressions along the shoulders caused by an

accelerated thaw of the permafrost underneath, likely due to the conventional embankment

of the airstrip;

Fairbanks Test Site (Alaska), an experimental air convection embankment designed and

constructed in 1992-93, that gave indications on the effectiveness of air convection

embankment in limiting or eliminating thaw of permafrost;

Nunavik airfields (Québec), where in 2005 and 2006 the MTQ (Ministère des Transports du

Québec) studied and assessed the air convective embankment as the mitigation methodology

to be implemented against permafrost degradation affecting the integrity of transportation

infrastructures and paved access roads;

Leismer Airport (Canada), where APMS (Airfield Pavement Management Systems, Velsen-

Suid, the Netherlands) executes test procedures and calculations for assessing successful

usability of unpaved gravel runways for aircraft operations in cold environment.

Excavation: Before beginning excavation the area will be cleared from cobbles and rock fragments

having dimension greater than 15 cm approximately. The suitability of material to be placed in

embankments will be subject to prior qualification. Excavation will be performed only locally

where ridge formations have been recorded in order to follow the design profile reported in the

present document. All suitable excavated material shall be used in the formation of embankment, or

subgrade in areas where there is no moraine deposit.

Compaction requirements: The subgrade under areas to be paved will be compacted to a target

depth of 30 cm and to a density of not less than 95% of the maximum density as determined from

ASTM D1557. Achieved performance will be controlled by field density tests according to ASTM

D 1556 (preferably) or ASTM D 6938 (to be considered with care, taking into account the coarse

grain size of the material). The material to be compacted shall be within +/- 2% of optimum

moisture content before rolling to obtain the prescribed compaction. The finished grading

operations, conforming to the typical cross section, shall be completed and maintained at least 100

m ahead of the paving operations.

Blasting: Blasting is planned to be implemented only when mechanical excavation will not be

possible. The sites where blasting will be conducted are the apron zone and the ridges present on the

moraine along the airstrip for a maximum evaluated volume of 3000 m3. A vibration consultant will


be consulted, to advise on explosive charge weights per delay and to analyse records from

seismograph recordings and record of each blast fired, its date, time and location will be kept;.

Formation of embankments: Embankments shall be formed in successive horizontal layers of not

more than 12 inches or 30 cm in loose state for the full width of the cross section.

The grading operations will be conducted, and the various soil strata shall be placed, to produce a

soil structure as shown on the typical cross section.

Operations on earthwork shall be suspended at any time when satisfactory results cannot be

obtained because of unsatisfactory conditions of the field.

The material of the layers shall be within +/-2% of optimum moisture content before rolling to

obtain the prescribed compaction.

Rolling operations shall be continued until the embankment is compacted to not less than 95% of

maximum density as determined by ASTM D 1557.

The in-place field density shall be determined in accordance with ASTM D 1556 (preferably) or

ASTM D 6938.

Compaction areas shall be kept separate, and no layer shall be covered by another until the proper

density is obtained.

In the construction of embankments, layer placement shall begin in the deepest portion of the fill; as

placement progresses, layers shall be constructed approximately parallel to the finished pavement

grade line.

Finishing and protection of subgrade: After the subgrade has been substantially completed the

full width shall be conditioned by removing any unstable material which will not compact properly.

The resulting areas and all other low areas, holes or depressions shall be brought to grade with

suitable selected material. Scarifying, blading, rolling and other methods shall be performed to

provide a thoroughly compacted subgrade shaped to the lines and grades shown on the plans.

Site work operation: The construction phase will be mainly articulated in the following actions:

scraping, grading, transporting and compacting operations.

The heavy equipment currently available at Mario Zucchelli Station is listed below:

2 Excavator;

1 Dumper;

2 Dozer;

3 Wheel Loader;

1 Motor Grader;

1 Vibratory Roller.


In addition, other heavy equipment will be provided to carry out the construction are listed below

(the brand type is here only an indication, and comparable models are available by many different

construction equipment manufactures):

1 Excavator;

1 Track Loader;

1 Dozer with Ripper;

3 Dumper;

1 Motor Grader;

1 Screener unit.

The construction site is planned to be divided into 3 major areas. One area will be designated for the

powercrusher to crush/screen the material and store the material that will be used to form the

embankment. The second one is formed by the area where the collecting of the material will take

place by means of scraping or blasting. The third area is represented by the layout of the

embankment itself. The material will therefore be transported between the 3 major areas by 4

dumpers.

The heavy machines intended to be used to collect the material are the following:

Excavator

Wheel loader

Tracked loader

Dozer D7

While, the heavy machines intended to be use to form the embankment are:

Excavator

Wheel loader

Tracked loader

Dozer D5

Roller

Grader

The construction timelines has been based on the assumptions listed below:

Excavator bucket capacity = 1 m3

Blade capacity = 2 m3

Average distance that the dumper will cover = 1 km

Average manoeuvre distance for the blade = 75 m

Worked time per hour = 50/60 (= 0.83)

Medium experience workers

2 shifts of 10 hours each for a total of 20 hours per day (24 h sunlight)

1 operator per machine


1 personnel on the site per shift

Working period per personnel: 25 days/30 days

The timeline estimate has been based on a work schedule of 4 years with 2 periods per year: Period

1 November-December, Period 2 January-February. This division was made to account for the more

difficult weather related ground conditions, such as excavating the frozen ground, that exists in

Period 1, by assuming reduced capacities for the operating machines.

2.4.6. Maintenance and Repair of Surface Layer

Gravel pavement surface maintenance primarily involves periodic grading to remove the surface

irregularities developing with time and to re-establish grades. Occasionally, new gravel has to be

added to replace lost material. Dust suppression measures may also be needed during the summer

months.

In the following the indications given in Unpaved Runway Surfaces [2.7] are reported.

Gravel Replacement

Material is gradually lost from gravel surfaces due to grading operations and the erosion effects of

traffic and wind, and thickness may be lost from contamination by the subgrade soil. As a rule of

thumb and depending on the number of aircraft movements and the type of traffic, runways

surfaced with uncrushed gravel lose thickness at an average rate of 25 mm (1 inch) per year and

runways surfaced with crushed gravel lose material at about half that rate.

Depending on the conditions and rate loss, the periodic addition of new material to the gravel

surface is required to replace granular material that has been worn, blown, eroded or driven into the

subgrade soil.

The repair materials should be mixtures of gravel, stone, and soil proportioned to meet the

requirements specified. The aggregate should consist of clean, hard and durable particles of crushed

or uncrushed gravel, stone, and be free from soft, thin elongated or laminated particles or other

deleterious substances.

The repair material will be collected in the same quarries used for the construction phase.

Grading and Compaction

Gravel surfaces should be graded and compacted as soon as conditions permit following the

summer thaw in preparation for autumn/winter operations.

Maintenance of gravel surfaces should include grading at intervals sufficient to maintain pavement

smoothness as well as the longitudinal and transverse slopes.

Surface grading should not cause any abrupt changes to the gradient and every effort should be

made to maintain grades as close to the original design as possible.


Grading operations should eliminate surface depressions and soft spots. During normal grading

operations, the surface is scarified to the depth of these depressions and the material blended and re-

compacted. The amount of surface material removed by the grader should be minimal.

New material, when added during the grading operation, should be incorporated into a loosened

surface and the resulting mixture compacted in 50 to 75 mm (2 to 3 inch) homogeneous lifts. This

method is preferred because it ensures bonding between layers, as opposed to simply adding new

material to an existing surface. The addition of fresh gravel should replace lost fines and fill local

depressions such as those frequently experienced in aircraft run-up areas near the runway threshold.

Following grading operations or graveling and grading, the surface should be compacted using a

roller when the surface is at its optimum moisture content.

Following compaction, the surface should be smooth, close to line and grade when measured with a

5 meter (16.4 ft) straight edge and free of loose stones greater than 25 mm (1 inch). Depressed

areas, which occur during the rolling operations, should be lightly loosened, new material added

and compacted.

2.5. Aeronautic characteristics

2.5.1. Runway geometric characteristics

The aeronautic design of the runway has been made with the support of ENAV, which is the Italian

State delegates the management and control of civilian air traffic in Italy, according to the ICAO

criteria:

The apron will be located at 4.8 km from Mario Zucchelli Station, direction 204°.

The orientation of the runway in flight approach and take off (GEO) is: 23.2° 203.2°.

Considering the TRUE angle, the runway designation (rounded up to the next 10°) results to

be: (023.2°) 02 / (203.2°) 20

The extremities of the runway, defined for both runway directions, identify the runway thresholds.

The threshold (THR) is the beginning of that portion of the runway usable for landing. Begin and

runway end are both coincident with the position of the THR. Indeed, the positions of these points

related to the centreline axis identify the following characteristic points, as in Table 2.7:

Table 2.7: Runway characteristic points

Designation NR RWY THR Coordinates RWY END Coordinates

02 74°45'06.2762"S

164°01'07.1530"E

74°43'59.8126"S

164°02'41.8436"E

20 74°43'59.8126"S

164°02'41.8436"E

74°45'06.2762"S

164°01'07.1530"E


The elevation of THR 02 is 205.66 m and the elevation of THR 20 is 201.60 m a.s.l.. The length of

a runway defines its classification; it refers to the aircraft that requires greater length for the

operations of take-off and landing.

The ICAO has developed a classification based on two codes: numeric (1 to 4) and alphabetic (A to

F); the first symbol refers to the characteristic length of the runway "L", which represents the

minimum distance request for the take-off by the plane at the maximum load, at sea level, in the

absence of wind and standard atmospheric conditions (15° C) with no longitudinal slope; the second

symbol regards the requirements to manoeuvre the aircraft in the critical stages of taxiing and

parking, this is represented by the wingspan "R"; on the basis of these considerations the runway in

question is classified as 4 (runway ≥ 1,800 m) D (wingspan ≥ 36 and < 52).

The runway is constituted by a single structure in mix crushed and compacted aggregate, with a

length of 2,200 m and a width of 45 m. The available strip is 60 m large and it is possible to use

exceeding meters to define a RWY shoulder of 7.5 m for each side of the runway.

The longitudinal slopes have been designed within the limits reported in the ICAO ANNEX 14 and

they have the following characteristics:

The first segment starts at 0 m up to 300.120 m and has a slope of 0.50%

The second segment is 600.234 m long, it starts at 300.120 m up to 900.354 m and has a

slope of 0.08%

The third segment is 500.195 m long, it starts at 900.354 m up to 1,400.549 m and has a

slope of 0.36%

The highest slope of 0.79% is associated to the last segment which is long 803.310 m and

goes from 1,400.549 m up to the end of the RWY.

Figure 2.23 shows an example of the runway profile. The cross slope of this runway is 0.0%.

The following aircrafts have been considered for the airstrip design at Boulder Clay site:

L100/30;

C130/J.

Aircraft characteristics are summarized in Table 2.8.

Table 2.8: Design aircrafts characteristics

Aircraft Gear Type

Equivalent single gear load (kg)

Tyre pressure (MPa)

Maximum Takeoff Weight (lbs)

Maximum Takeoff Weight (kg)

L100/30 dual 26,400 0.74 156,000 70,600

C130/J dual 29,600 0.67 175,050 79,400


Figure 2.30 shows a typical layout of a C130 cargo aircraft.

Figure 2.30: Typical C130 Cargo dimensions

.


2.5.2. Runway Considerations

The ARP (Aerodrome Reference Point) coordinates of Boulder Clay runway are:

Table 2.9: Runway characteristics

The runway code respect Annex 14 results “4D”:

“4” number related to the length (≥1,800m)

“D” letter related to the wingspan (36 ≤ wingspan <52)

2.5.3. Flight approach and take off

ENAV conducted a study of the suitability of the site for a runway. The method used to evaluate the

impact of each foreseen and existent obstacle inside the airfield is defining the slopes and the

dimensions of the Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS).

The surfaces are listed below:

Take Off Climb Surface - TOCS

Approach Surface - AS

Transitional Surface – TS

Inner Horizontal Surface - IHS

Conical Surface – CS

As conclusions of OLS analysis ENAV remarked that all the Obstacle Limitation Surfaces are

penetrated by the terrain surrounding Boulder Clay aerodrome. However no particular implication

is identified on defining approaches and departures operations for a single runway direction (north

bound).

The terrain penetration, for what concern RWY 20, can be mitigated increasing the slope of section

1 up to 3.33% (1:30). The length of the second section can be increased in order to avoid the

orography located at 14 km.


Figure 2.31: Approach Surface RWY20 (AS RWY20).


2.6. Operation plan and international profits

Having a permanent runway will allow intercontinental air operations to be distributed throughout

the entire summer season. This will make the planning implementation more reliable and will mean

a much more efficient use of the stations and their infrastructures. In addition timely scheduled

exchange of personnel would be possible with the assurance of a permanent runway, avoiding the

overpopulation that often occurs at the stations and simplify their logistic needs.

A reduction in the length of occupancy time could be achieved. So that, more science could be

accomplished as more personnel will be rotated through Antarctica. With this reduction in the mean

staying time for the scientists in Antarctica by an efficient redistribution of the occupancy in the

stations, science would benefit, because more scientists could have access to Antarctica for their

research needs (typically it would allow the increase of activities of “scientific observatory”), which

usually requires limited and specific times for their management and often have a need to be

repeated seasonally.

Italy does not pursue any intention to operate touristic companies on this gravel runway.

A permanent runway will increase the safety of all personnel by having a reliable site for air

evacuations along with a place to land vital equipment, either medical or technical.

The importance of being able to manage medical emergencies does not need to be stressed. It is

obvious. Having the possibility to manage technical emergencies makes the planning of expeditions

easier and more reliable, because it will prevent the termination of a project simply for the lack of a

small piece of equipment. Systems are becoming more complex and we have to be prepared to

better guarantee reliable and rapid logistics. We could no longer rely on maintaining large costly

over-stocked warehouses in anticipation of possible failures.

2.6.1. Airstrip operation plan

Despite the airstrip design set on 30 flights/year, the Italian needs at mid-term range wouldn’t

require a significant increase of flights respect 6-8 seasonally made for each research expedition.

The moved personnel and freights are determined by the size and the needs of the 2 Italian Station,

with about 70 accommodations for Concordia (shared with IPEV) and about 100 for MZS.

We expect not more than 15 flights/year operated with the built up gravel runway at BC, with the

main advantage to spread the intercontinental aircraft activity throughout the campaign period.

A realistic aircraft planning in case of the presence of the Boulder Clay airstrip would be the

following:

First period flights operated, as usual, on ice pack, for a reasonable number (from 5 to 7), to

start the scientific and logistic activity (mid-October to mid-November);


second (December) third period (mid-January to mid-February), with flights scheduled on

the gravel runway: 2 (or 3) mid-season connections to rotate personnel and 3 (to 5) flights in

the last portion of the campaign to close the Stations, move people and freights back to NZ.

It must also be considered that this schedule would be subject to the actual logistic and scientific

needs, changing year by year.

In this configuration (with less than 15 flights) the increase in fuel consumption would not be

excessive and compatible with the present planned biyearly fuel resupply of MZS.

At present, average calculated (over last 6 years) fuel consumption for intercontinental flights

weight the 25% of to the total annual fuel consumption of MZS. We intend to close the gap related

to the increase of flights, with the new gravel runway by improving the energy efficiency of MZS

that can reduce up to the 50% the total annual fuel consumption.

2.6.2. International profits

The possible users of the permanent runway are not limited only to the Italian program. Gondwana

Station that belongs to the German BGR is only 13 kilometres from MZS in Terra Nova Bay area.

The small summer station it is not manned every season and for intercontinental connections and

logistic operations BGR often relies on PNRA. For these reasons BGR has been already formally

stated the interest about the construction of the permanent runway at BC.

KOPRI recently built the new Jang Bogo Station (JBS) at Terra Nova Bay. Since the time of the

preliminary surveys for the construction site, PNRA and Korean Program began an exchange of

reciprocal support. In informal contacts, KOPRI declared more than once its interest for the

permanent runway and it is supporting the current activities of the test site.

The French program IPEV will benefit from the proposed facility, because PNRA share with it the

managing of Concordia and the permanent runway will improve the resupply activities and the

personnel movements to/from Concordia. Furthermore, IPEV is currently experiencing difficult

conditions in resupplying its main station, Dumont d’Urville, by vessel (Astrolabe), because of the

sea ice accumulation in the area of East Antarctica. Every year IPEV relies more on our support to

move people and light freight. A permanent runway, available the entire season, will increase the

ability to support the French schedule.

In informal contacts, also Antarctica New Zealand declared its interest in the permanent runway,

mainly due to safety enhancements. In fact, in the area AntNZ operates aircrafts, such as the

Hercules C130, the Orion P-3 and the Boeing B757, which have not enough range to fly back to

New Zealand in case of weather problems at their destination airport. A primary permanent runway,

near the main airway, 200 miles from McMurdo will dramatically increase the safety in air

operations by providing a reliable alternate airfield.


USAP also showed their interest in this new infrastructure for the same safety reasons. USAP

manages a wide fleet of aircraft in this area which could benefit from the availability of a year

round runway.

The Polar Research Institute of China announced the interest in establishing a new research station

in the Ross Sea area, investigating the site of Inexpressible Island, in the Terra Nova Bay area.

Although no formal talks have been made, it is likely the Chinese Program may also have an

interest in having a permanent runway close to this new station.

2.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

2.1 Baroni C. (1987) – Geomorphological map of the Northern Foothills near the Italian station (Terra

Nova Bay, Antarctica). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 195-212.

2.2 David T.W.E., Priestley R.E. (1914) – Glaciology, physiography, stratigraphy and tectonic geology

of South Victoria Land. Rep. Brit. Antarct. Exped. 1907-1909, Geol. pp. 1: 1-319.

2.3 Baroni C., Orombelli G. (1987) – Glacial geology and geomorphology of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria

Land, Antarctica). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 171-194.

2.4 JØrgensen A. S. (2009) – Assessment of three mitigation techniques for permafrost protection –

Road and airfields in the Arctic, PhD thesis Department of Civil Engineering Technical University

of Denmark, Report R-202, ISBN: 9788778772794, ISSN: 1601-2917.

2.5 Andersland O. B., Anderson D. M. (1978) – Geotechnical Engineering for Cold Regions. McGraw

Hill Book Company

2.6 U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration (2009) - AC 150/5320-6E.

2.7 Transport Canada – Unpaved Runway Surfaces – AC 300-004 (2013).

2.8 Saboundjian S. Goering D.J. 2003 – Air Convention Embankment for Roadways: A Field

Experimental Study in Alaska. 82nd annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.

Washington, D.C., January 2003.

2.9 Mitchell J. K. (1993) – Fundamentals of Soil Behavior. 2nd Edition. Wiley New York.

2.10 Khakimov K.T. (1966) – Artificial Freezing of Soils Theory and Practice. Academy of Sciences of

the USSR Permafrost Institute im. V. A. Obruchev.


3. Alternatives to the Proposed Activity

During the preparation of the Draft CEE and the following analysis of the alternatives to the

proposed activity, particular attention was given to ensure compliance with the Antarctic Treaty and

the Madrid Protocol, as well as Italy's relevant laws and regulations.

Full reference has been given to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to the Kyoto Protocol on

Climate Change the Protocol of the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution

from Ships (MARPOL 73/78) and the Convention on the Dumping of Wastes at Sea.

In the Southern area of the Northern Foothills with respect to MZS, inspections were conducted on

many sites to assess the preliminary technical feasibility of this infrastructure, considering the

length that aimed to be built, the aeronautical constraints and the orography of the terrain.

Only two locations on the land were retained as possible sites and considered adequate, for

technical reasons, for the construction of the gravel runway. These were “Boulder Clay” (BC) 74°

44’45’’S, 164° 01'17’’E, 205 m a.s.l., and “Campo Antenne” (74°4219,2”S, 164°06’19,6”).

Another site (Nansen Ice Sheet) had already been investigated for a permanent blue ice runway, but

although used in the past a few times for landing, resulted not anymore suitable and of

unpredictable availability, due to climatic conditions.

Boulder Clay was finally chosen, through an evaluation process that kept in consideration to

minimize the overall environmental impact of the proposed activity, especially during the

construction phase, thus guaranteeing efficiency and safety in relation with wind direction.

3.1. Situation of skiway operations at Mario Zucchelli Station

The Italian National Antarctic Research Program operates two Antarctic stations: Mario Zucchelli

Station (MZS) and Concordia Station, the last one together with the French IPEV. MZS operates

usually from mid October to mid February and is essential for supporting continental air transport

of personnel and freights to and from Concordia Station during summer.

For the intercontinental transport of personnel and freights, the Italian Program relies on several

resources. Flights operated by PNRA itself, the multipurpose ice class vessel ITALICA (which is

used also to refuel the station and for the oceanographic campaigns), flights and ships operated by

other Antarctic programs as support exchanges in the framework of PNRA international

cooperation.

Since 1990, PNRA chose to operate a sea-ice runway, which is located in the Gerlache Inlet close to

MZS (Figure 3.1, red line). The possibility to land nearby the Station permitted to open the Station

earlier than it would have been possible operating only the ship, thus allowing a longer period to


scientific activities. Actually, thanks to the ice runway availability, the standard MZS summer

operability starts in mid-October

Figure 3.1: Locations of the available icestrips around MZS

(red line for the Hercules icestrip and blue/orange lines for Twin Otter icestrip/skiways respectively)

PNRA flights are currently operated chartering an Hercules aircraft and using the MZS ice runway

that is suitable for landing of wheeled aircrafts, as much as it is possible. Usually the availability of

such ice runway ends in late November - early December, because the ice sheet thickness and

strength decrease to unsafe values. Therefore autonomous personnel and freights transport stops

completely (except for what is kindly ensured by the US NSF air support via McMurdo station), till

the arrival of the Italian vessel in Terra Nova Bay on mid-December. Besides the increasing

temperatures, katabatic wind events in Terra Nova bay also contribute to modulate the ice airstrip

durability in summer, pushing offshore broken ice sheets and eventually causing premature

shutdowns.

PNRA also operates smaller ski equipped aircrafts (Twin Otter and Basler), for the continental

flights connection between MZS , Concordia, DDU and McMurdo Stations. For this activity, to


face changes in weather and skiway conditions, several skiways are prepared every year around

MZS station, and most of them are indeed used for the entire summer season. These snow strips can

be used only by aircrafts equipped with skis

For landing of intercontinental flights operated by large wheeled aircrafts as the Hercules L100/30,

in the past seasons, other landing areas were investigated and for a year a blue ice runway located

on the Nansen Ice Sheet was seldom used (IEE: Construction and Operation of Nansen Ice Runway,

Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica; 2007) and then resulted not anymore suitable and, due to

climatic conditions, of unpredictable availability during the season.

Currently the Gerlache Inlet ice runway remains the only facility for PNRA to operate

intercontinental flights to MZS in early summer.

In the last ten years, during the summer season, an earlier increase of fast ice temperatures over the

airstrip area, was observed. In addition also a thinning of the ice sheet was measured. Both those

phenomena resulted in an increasing shortening of the operability period of the ice airstrip that

affected the flights schedule causing logistics difficulties to PNRA. Also other National Antarctic

Programs experienced such difficulties. One of the main reasons of such a change in Gerlache Inlet

was identified in the observed abrupt reduction of Campbell Ice Tongue extension in 2005.

Figure 3.2: The Campbell Ice Tongue before and after November 2005.

Campbell Glacier (74°25′ S, 164°22′ E), originated from the end of Mesa Range in Victoria Land in

East Antarctica, is an outlet glacier flowing into the Terra Nova and forming a seaward main ice

stream of 13.5 km long and 4.5 km wide. The protection of this ice stream against the stormy sea


waves permits every year the formation of a thick fast ice in the Gerlache Inlet. Unfortunately the

Campbell Ice Tongue experienced an abrupt truncation in 2005 that resulted in a curtailment of its

extend of about 5 miles (Figure 3.2) and consequently a much less effective defence of the area

from the oceanic storms, that are considered among the main causes of a premature breakdown of

the fast ice sheet.

As a consequence, after 2005 every summer expedition of PNRA suffered of logistic difficulties

mainly related to no reliability of planning because the unpredictable lasting of the sea ice runway.

Fortunately the favourable US-NSF support avoided activities to be too seriously affected, but

PNRA dependencies strongly dependent upon the establishment of cooperation agreements with

other Antarctic Programs and the related impact of its own activities on those Programs, especially

when the vessel Italica is not chartered.

3.2. Non proceeding alternative: evaluation of the naval operations

As already anticipated, in the last decade and every two years PNRA chartered the vessel Italica

(Figure 3.3) to transport fuel, heavy loads and personnel to MZS, as well as to run oceanographic

research.

Figure 3.3: The vessel Italica.

The main technical characteristics of this ice class vessel are briefly shown below.

ITALICA Master Data

Size: 121 m x 17 m

Gross Tonnage: 5,825 ton

Net Tonnage: 2,473 ton

Consumption at cruise speed

15 ton/day Antarctic diesel (19 ton/day for ice cruising)


This vessel represents a unique means for the transport of fuel and heavy loads to the station, as

well as for oceanographic studies. Between mid December (earlier arrival is not possible due to sea

ice conditions) to beginning of February, it is also the only autonomous mean of transportation of

PNRA personnel in/out from Antarctica. This means that, without the US NSF and other

neighboring Antarctic Programs support, Italy would be obliged to charter the vessel every year to

ensure the transportation of personnel at the end of the season.

In this hypothesis, that corresponds to the non-proceeding alternative, the flue gases emissions and

related human footprint of the PNRA expedition would increase a lot, as demonstrated also by IP32

(ATCM 36), whose conclusions after analysis of the DROMLAND air system vs transport on the

vessel POLARSTERN were that “the produced emissions per passenger by air are lower than the

value produced with Polarstern”. The contrary was observed for cargo transportation.

Similarly, only considering at the end of the season, half a month of cruise dedicated for personnel

transportation, the vessel, would need the equivalent in fuel of 10 intercontinental two-way fights

made with Hercules L100/30.

Fuel consumption and total emissions in the hypothesis of autonomous maritime transportation of

personnel at the end of the season are estimated in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Estimated fuel consumption and total emissions in the hypothesis of autonomous maritime

transportation of personnel at the end of the season (15 g cruise).

Source Fuel Type Total Fuel

Consumption (ton)

Emission Pollutants

Emission factor (g/kg)

Total Emission (ton)

Vessel Italica

Antarctic diesel 250

CO 0.71 0.18

NOx 3.41 0.85

SO2 33.44 8.36

PM10 0.28 0.7

CO2 879 219.7

Ship emissions are especially relevant for deposition of sulphur and nitrogen compounds, which

generally cause acidification/eutrophication of natural ecosystems. Therefore a reduction of NOx,

SO2 and particle emissions in the area, resulting from a more efficient management system

involving the lower possible chartering of the vessel, would likely have beneficial impacts on air

quality, acidification and eutrophication of the Antarctic region, according also to the recent policy

interest to globally reduce ship emissions [3.1].


3.3. Alternative airstrip sites

3.3.1. Efficiency of intercontinental operations at MZS

The sea-ice runway for Hercules L100/30 aircraft, located in the Gerlache Inlet close to MZS

(Figure 3.1, red line). ends its operability in late November, when the sea-ice sheet does not

anymore guarantee safe operations.

PNRA has to rely on the support of foreign Antarctic programs for moving personnel and stuffs

in/out of Antarctica, especially when the Italica vessel is not chartered. After November, important

agreements with USAP lead to operational help by their aircraft operations. For that, usually one

Twin Otter or two helicopters have to bring personnel and stuffs from MZS to McMurdo airport (>

400 km trip). Although the USAP help was fundamental in these years, transiting through McM has

an impact on US-NSF operations and remains a costly and less efficient operative way.

A more effective transportation way comes from the support of KOPRI, that during the last seasons

helped the PNRA operations by means of the Araon vessel, usually reaching the close Jang Bogo

Station every year in austral summer. However the available capacity of support of KOPRI cannot

cover all PNRA needs, as also in this case, this would result in an impact on their own Antarctic

Programme.

3.3.2. The Nansen ice sheet airstrip

In April 2007, the Consortium for implementation of the Italian Antarctic Scientific Programme

(PNRA S.r.c.) presented at the XXX Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting an Initial

Environmental Evaluation (WP67) entitled “Construction and Operation of Nansen Ice Runway

(Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica)”.

The proposed activity consisted of preparation and construction of a runway on blue ice in the

Nansen glacier area, 30 km away from the Mario Zucchelli Station. The site was chosen because the

ice surface was particularly flat and smooth due to the erosion caused by the strong winter katabatic

winds. That airstrip was considered necessary in order to allow the landing of heavy aircraft when

the fast ice that normally covers Gerlache Inlet, in front of the Station, does not show the needed

safety margin, because of the seasonal ice temperature increasing along with a thickness decreasing.

Actually, the choice of this site was dictated from the wish to fix the problems related to the fast ice

runway. The IEE resulted in a work having impacts on the environment less than minor or

transitory, despite the long distance of the chosen site, over 50 km away, from the operative area of

MZS to be covered via surface truck,.

The Nansen blue ice runway was operated in a few episodes for 2 seasons, but from 2009, due to

climate changes in the area, the surface of the glacier was no more smooth enough to allow landing

and take-off of large aircrafts.


Figure 3.4: Locations of Nansen ice strip (yellow line) and the track of the two roads from MZS.

The main troubles encountered were the loss of flatness caused by the increased water streams on

the glacier and the consequent presence of ruts, unsmoothed by wind during winter season.

Afterward, all the attempts to re-open the facility were unsuccessful, because the recent changes in

environment temperatures and wind intensity resulted in a lower natural ablation of the surface and

in the impossibility to use the road connecting MZS to Nansen ice runway, considering the

available equipment at MZS. In fact, considering the distance of the airstrip from the Station,

besides the hard environment where the connection snow road had to be placed (Nansen glacier

with small crevasses somewhere), the average transit time was as long as 2 hours for each leg,

making the airstrip operations logistically complex.

Finally, in 2010 the area of the Nansen ice runway was reinstated to its pristine behaviour and any

future aircraft operation was cancelled.


3.4. An alternative site for the gravel runway: Campo Antenne

As early as September 1990, the Italian Engineering for Airports company - ITAL AIRPORT, on

request of the Italian National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), carried out a study entitled

"Finding an airport site in the de-iced area of the Italian base at Terra Nova Bay, a preliminary

analysis ". The study, aimed at the localization of suitable sites for the airstrip construction, was

carried out on the basis of a few elements including detailed weather-climate of the area (about 4

years of data), the geo-morphological map of the Northern Foothills (scale 1: 20,000 dated 1987)

and other topographic maps with medium detail provided by PNRA. After 25 years, thanks to the

efforts of the researchers and logistic engineers of PNRA, the knowledge has been greatly

improved.

Figure 3.5: A slope map of the area around the station and the alternative location for the airstrip at Campo

Antenne (black arrow).


Since 1990 several topographic surveys were conducted over the area, including mapping at 1:

10,000 by aerial photographs (developed on the basis of the American flight Trimetrogon of 50’s)

and, more recently, an upgrade to topographic scale of 1: 2,500 (drawn up on the basis of Geoeyes

satellite images of Terra Nova Bay). The new mapping detailed the work done in the 90’s and

identified one additional area, Campo Antenne, potentially suitable as alternative airstrip location.

The larger impact of the construction operations (including blasting) at this site is the first important

difference between the Boulder Clay site, where most part of the rocks are moraine debris already

available on site and to be just partly reduced in size.

3.4.1. Description of the alternative site

The site of Campo Antenne is located behind MZS, at an average altitude of about 100 m a.s.l. The

outcrop is present in the unit of Abbot in his felsic facies (granite of Abbot). The morphology of the

area is gently undulating for about 1,000 meters and then take a significant slope to the south.

Figure 3.6: Locations of both the ionospheric and environmental observatories (red arrows) and the larger

antennas fields (pink lines) at Campo Antenne site.


As the name indicates, Campo Antenne (namely field of antennas) is the location close to MZS

station chosen for the installation of the antenna farm hosting most of the larger antennas used for

the scientific and logistic activities during summer and winter. A map of all those facilities is shown

in Figure 3.6.

Most of the antennas are devoted to communications (pink coloured on the map), while some

antennas and shelters are involved in scientific researches mainly as relay of meteorological

automatic stations located on the west side of the peninsula and as ionospheric and environmental

observatories (red arrows on the map).

All the electronics equipment, installed to drive the antennas, are powered by a long line of cables

originating from the automatic electric generator (PAT), located on the west side of the MZS.

The realization of a runway on site entails a repositioning of the entire antenna farm to a different

suitable location, still close to the station, thus impacting scientific and logistic activities. In effect

such a change would have a deep impact on the ionospheric and environmental observatories

located in the area since 1990. In addition the effort in moving the entire set of antennas, scientific

shelters and power connections to a new location would be huge. Actually the only adequate place,

around MZS, showing the flatness behaviour requested for the larger antennas displacement would

be exactly Boulder Clay, faraway several miles from the station.

3.4.2. Feasibility of the alternative airstrip

From a geomorphological point of view, Campo Antenne is part of the Northern Foothills. A

detailed analysis of Northern Foothills is reported on Chapter 4.1 of the present work. Here it is

important to anticipate that Campo Antenne site shows similar origin and geomorphological

behaviour of the bedrocks around Boulder Clay site (see in Chapter 4.1, Figure 4.2).

The planned location of the airstrip would allow a maximum extension of 1,700 m long and 66 m

wide, lying approximately along the meridian 164°06'20''E, is drawn in Figure 3.7. A longer

extension is impossible due to the southward deep slope of the site, resulting in an unworkable

filling volume in case of a length extension.

The track is southward and shows an average slope of about 2% (altitude 125 m northward at the

track head, decreasing smoothly southward to about 90 m).

The realization of the infrastructure would be performed with a cut-and-fill technique based on

volumes calculated on a precise GPS elevation profile by data taken during the XXVIII Italian

expedition in November 2012 (Figure 3.8). For the chosen runway position, the GPS measurements

were taken on three parallel tracking lines, one on central axis and two on 33 meters distance sides,

westerly and easterly from the central axis respectively. Each line was walked two times, to the

South and back to the North, to get redundant data and so minimizing the errors. In addiction more


GPS measurements on crossing transects between parallel lines were performed, when the terrain

behaviour was clearly showing inhomogeneous slopes.

Figure 3.7: A satellite map (left) and 3-D height contour map (right) of the Campo Antenne area close to MZS

with the alternative location for the airstrip.

Filling and cutting areas (red and blue code respectively) are also presented.

Figure 3.8: A slope cut of a possible airstrip 1770 m long at Campo Antenne

The average slope of the airstrip is also shown (red line) with filling and cutting areas (blue and orange code

respectively). A description of the runway area with its cross-section is also reported.

Filling

Airstrip surface

N S

Cutting


Effective volumes of granite to be moved in the cut-and-fill operations were calculated, resulting in

an estimate of the overall moved volume (including the parking area) of about 1,500,000 m3, with

about 200,000 m3 of cutting and the remaining volume to be filled.

From the characteristics of the location, the removal of compact granite rock outcrops would be

possible only by means of a large use of explosives, while over 1,000,000 m3 of material not

produced by means of explosive in the cutting operations would have to be retrieved from other

nearby locations, still by mean of explosives, or from debris deposits placed in an area as wide as

possible around the site. A large part of the necessary embankment is located around the southward

sloping part of the track, where most of the volume that needs to be filled is present. A minor

impact in terms of filled volume could be achieved only shortening significantly the length.

Besides the second important difference is the maximum length allowable, limited below 1,700 m

in Campo Antenne compared to 2,200 m in Boulder Clay, consequently strongly limiting the types

of aircrafts that could be allowed for landing on the airstrip. This, in perspective, can result in a

higher impact of operations. On the contrary, the long term goal is to operate aircrafts with a greater

fuel autonomy in order to minimize refuelling operations in Antarctica.

3.4.3. Aeronautical flight clearances at the site

According to the in force ICAO regulations, no obstruction must longitudinally pierce the surface

approach. This surface, that starts 60 m away from the airstrip threshold, has an inner edge 300

meters wide (150 m for each side of the track) that is orthogonal to the axis of the runway, with an

ascending slope of 2% (1:50) and diverging until it meets the side surfaces.

A safety zone side (LSZ) is prescribed for a distance of 150 m on each side, starting from the

central axis of the runway. With the exception of assistance essentials for landing, there should be

no obstacles within this area (including aircraft parked). From its outer edge a surface inclined

upwards and outwards (gradient 1:7) starts, that meets the surface of approach and that must be

clear from any obstacle. According to the above prescription, the possible airstrip results safe all

around the horizon but southward, where the height of few small hills limits the clear surface on the

mountain side.

Behaviours of flight clearance surfaces at Campo Antenne are shown in Figure 3.9.


Figure 3.9: Behaviours of flight clearance surfaces at Campo Antenne

3.4.4. Climate and meteorology

The Meteorological Observatory of PNRA has a long historical series of data. Among all the

historical weather stations installed around MZS, one (Eneide) is very close to Campo Antenne site

and therefore allowed for long term on-site data collection of pressure, temperature, humidity, wind

speed and direction, solar radiation. In addition for the proposed activity, considering possible wind

shear effects and to assess on site turbulence critical for safety of air operations, in summer

campaign 2013 two additional automatic weather stations were installed and operated in the area of

Campo Antenne, K4 upwind and K5 median with respect to the proposed runway location (see

Figure 4.14).

The data set collected by the AWS stations confirms that the climate in the area is cold and arid.

The annual path of average monthly temperatures shows the typical behaviour of the Antarctic

coastal regions with the lack of a well-defined winter minimum, a short summer, the absence of

intermediate seasons and the reversal of the temperature pattern in mid-winter.

The mean monthly air temperature recorded in the last decades by Eneide station ranged between -

16 and -3.5°C in the summer period (1993-2011 period), with a mean annual temperature of -14°C.

The region receives around 270 mm water equivalent precipitation per year.

From the wind rose from Eneide presented in Figure 3.10, the prevailing winds in this part of

Northern Foothills area blow from western sectors. They are associated mainly with the katabatic

flow coming from interior of the continent and the wind speed can rarely reach values over 40

knots.


Figure 3.10: Wind rose of decadal averaged winds measured by Eneide meteorological station during summer

(Oct.-Feb., hourly data from Feb. 1987 to Nov. 2011).

According to ICAO regulations, take-off or landing are not allowed in presence of a transverse wind

component stronger than 19 km/h (10 knots), 24 km/h (13 knots) and 37 km/h (20 knots) for

aircrafts that require a track with a length shorter than 1,200m, between 1,200 and 1,500 and longer

than 1,500 m respectively.

3.5. Alternative methods for the realization of the Boulder Clay

embankment

A variety of engineered solutions have been taken into account for the Boulder Clay moraine

embankment in order to prevent the potential permafrost degradation and ensure minimum

environmental impact associated with maintenance operations. These includes: thermosyphon

tubes; ventiduct embankments; shading boards/awnings; expanded polystyrene insulation etc.. Each

method has its own advantages and disadvantages often heavily dependent on local environmental

and logistical conditions.

Thermosyphons are usually used where the frozen state of the soil must be maintained. A

thermosyphon is a sealed tube which is pressurized and filled with a low boiling point liquid

(Freon, ammonia or carbon dioxide). Damages during transport and operations are very


detrimental (depressurization, obstruction of the cooling fins) and could be render these

devices useless.

Ventiduct embankments typically utilize a traditional soil embankment with the inclusion of

pipes placed across the embankment. These pipes serve as “air culverts” allowing air to pass

through the embankment centre and draw heat out from the soil. The flow air reduction,

over time, due to snow or debris, may also increase maintenance potential and reduce

effectiveness.

Awnings/shading boards function in several ways, but primarily by reducing the influence

of solar radiation on the embankment. These structures can be constructed of several types

of material (wood, metal frame with soft canvas sides, or stiff composite structure placed on

the embankment shoulders). Damage due to natural occurrences such as katabatic wind may

reduce their effectiveness and increase maintenance costs.

Expanded Polystyrene used to increase the insulation and the thermal resistance of the

embankment. In general, polystyrene provides good strength properties, resists water

absorption and mechanical damage. The Polystyrene Insulation has been discarded due to

the strict rules related to polystyrene presence in Antarctica.

In conclusion, the decision to use an “Air Convection Embankments” technique was taken to

preserve the environment and reduce the infrastructure maintenance. The choice to use only local,

selected material (from boulder to gravel) without introducing foreign structures (pipes, shading

boards or insulating polymers), has been evaluated as the lowest impacting on the moraine area

environment.

Nevertheless, the choice as been determined also in consideration of the logistical costs of the

transporting to Antarctica of necessary material (thermosyphons or ventiduct) necessary to cover

2,200 m of runway; in fact, that would require a few turnaround of the ship between the New

Zealand ant Terra Nova Bay, with a considerable amount of emissions.

Other techniques have been demonstrated not suitable considering the type of application and the

local climatology (shading boards) and to respect the local environment (polystyrene insulation).

3.6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 V. Eyring, J. J. Corbett, D. S. Lee, J. J. Winebrake - Brief summary of the impact of ship emissions

on atmospheric composition, climate, and human health Document submitted to the Health and

Environment sub-group of the International Maritime Organization on 6th November 2007.


4. Initial Environmental Reference state on the Boulder

Clay site

The Italian Mario Zucchelli Station is located in the Northern Foothills, a line of coastal hills on the

west side of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land), lying southward of Browning Pass and forming a

peninsular continuation of the Deep Freeze Range.

The Northern Foothills represent an ice-marginal, high latitude periglacial environment. The area is

partially covered only by local glaciers and snowfields and it is extended in shape from the south to

the north, parallel to the coast and spaced by ice free areas, which step down to the sea.

Local glaciers develop on an inherited Plio-Pleistocene landscape and they are considered dry

based. Close to the Italian Station the main orographic features is represented by Boulder Clay

Glacier, a dead glacier that begins in the Enigma Lake area and arrives at Adelie Cove where

degrades towards the sea. In the area a late glacial ablation till, called Boulder Clay moraine,

overlies the body of the glacier (some hundreds meters large and 4.5 km long). The surface features

include perennially ice-covered ponds with icing blisters and frost mounds, frost-fissure polygons

and debris islands.

At the bottom of the Boulder Clay Glacier (Adelie Cove) there is an area that hosts an Adélie

penguins rookery quite big, some thousands of couples. The penguin colony is located in front of

the marine protected area ASPA n°161 of Terra Nova Bay.

4.1. Geomorphological and Geological framework

A detailed geomorphological map of the area was elaborated by Baroni [4.1] at scale 1:200,000,

(Figure 4.1), based on a topographical map at scale of 1:10,000 supported by aerial photographs

interpretation. Landform and deposits mapped include those related to glaciers, cryogenic activity,

wind and sea action, weathering and geological structures.

In the Northern Foothills area a pattern conditioned by the topography, by the geological structure

and by the glacier history can be outlined. Several zones parallel to the coast can be signed out:

a first lower belt is characterized by coastal landforms, strongly conditioned by salt

weathering and snowing organogenous features. Due to the isostatic rebound, the marine

influence during the Holocene directly interested a belt ranging in altitude from the present

sea-level up to about 30 m a.s.l. A wider coastal zone is indirectly conditioned by sea

through salt weathering, strongly efficient on the coarse granitic rocks;

a second belt can be recognized up to about 450 m a.s.l., corresponding to the area covered

by the ice during the last glaciation. A discontinuous sheet of glacial sediment is present; it


is locally ice-cored and widely affected by ice-wedge polygons. Large areas of debris

covered glaciers are also present;

a third belt develops at higher than 450 m up to the maximum eight present in the area.

Large bedrock outcrops with a thin and highly discontinuous cover of glacial sediments

occur in this belt. Rock surfaces are strongly oxidized, with frequent cavernous weathering

and locally pseudo-karren fractures.

From a geological point of view the Northern Foothills have been studied by Skinner [4.2] [4.3]

[4.4] Carmignani et al. [4.5] and Rocchi et al. [4.6].

In the entire area the following lithology are present (Figure 4.2 [4.6]):

Granite and granodiorite (“Abbott Granite”: coarse porphyritic leuco-granite; “Canwe

Granodiorite”: biotite and biotite-orneblenda quartz diorite to granodiorite with K-feldspa

phenocrysts; Ordovician);

Mafites (“Browning Mafites”: diorite and gabbros with strong differentiation to granites;

Ordovician).

Metamorphic rocks (“Priestley formation”, Precambrian, Early Ordovician):

Metamorphosed dominant politic, thinly bedded argillite sequences with subordinate quartz-

feldspatic grey-wache. Amphibolite facies metasediment, “Priestley Shist” [4.7];

Volcanic rocks (basalt), dykes (“McMurdo volcanic”, Late Caenozoic-quaternary).


Figure 4.1: Geomorphological map of the Northern Foothills near MZS [4.1]


Figure 4.2: Terra Nova intrusive complex geo-petrographic map [4.6]


4.1.1. The Boulder Clay Moraine features

The Boulder Clay area is a gentle slope mainly dipping to S-SE with a N-S elongation, just a few

km southward of the MZS station and placed along the eastern margin of the Boulder Clay glacier.

The area ends on the northern coast of Adelie Cove.

Traditionally the area of Boulder Clay was described as an area of scarce glacial sediments

outcropping, discontinuous and generally thin and referred to the drift informally named TN I [4.8].

In particular the area of the strip is mainly on a younger debris-covered glacier according to the

geomorphological map of Baroni [4.1]. According to [4.8], there are many patterned grounds and in

particular, ice and sand wedges polygons and nets on Upper Pleistocene glacial drift (TN I) but also

on the debris-covered glacier.

More recently the most western part of the Boulder Clay area was geophysically investigated and a

D.C. electric sounding were carried out not far from the eastern margin of the glacier. Immediately

to the north of the beginning of the morainic ridges (oriented N-S) it revealed a layer of at least 65

m of thickness with a resistivity of 1,600 kΩm below a thin unfrozen layer of only 10 cm depth.

The high resistivity body could be interpreted as a glacier relict ice but also as permafrost with a

very high ice content [4.9].

According to French and Guglielmin [4.10] [4.11] the polygons, that characterized the surface of

the Boulder Clay area, were mainly frost fissure polygons although a few debris islands (0.4–0.8m

in diameter) are present in the area. The last ones are not sorted and they are produced probably by

the upwards squeezing of finer material from within the coarser matrix of the ablation till [4.12].

The larger polygons are thermal-contraction-crack polygons, 15–20 m in dimensions bordered by

shallow inter-polygon furrows or troughs, 0.2–0.5 m deep and 0.5–1.0 m wide. In plan form, the

majority of polygons assume either a random orthogonal or hexagonal pattern. While the polygons

mostly assume a convex surface morphology, some of them present shallow ramparts, 0–15 cm

high, border the interpolygon furrows. As demonstrated for other localities by French and

Guglielmin [4.10] [4.11] these ramparts cannot result from the lateral thrusting caused by the

growth of the wedge but more likely they result from the radially outwards thermal expansion of the

active layer from the polygon centres.

The other three main morphological elements of the area according to the literature are: a) morainic

ridges; b) debris cones; c) perennially frozen lakes.

The morainic ridges are mainly concentrated in the northern and southern tips of the area and closer

to the eastern margin of the Boulder Clay Glacier. According to Baroni [4.1] map also a few other

morainic ridges occur on the eastern margin of the drift area and in the middle. In reality some

ridges 0.5-3 m high occur elsewhere in the area and they show random orientations and form

(although mainly WSW-ENE oriented or curved). A recent GPR investigations revealed an ice core

with the surface roughly parallel to the topographic surface.


In some cases along these ridges and along the ridges previously mapped it could appear also some

debris cones that can exceed also 2 m in height.

The debris cones despite of their similar shape are not all the same, in fact at least in one case they

appear to consist of almost pure mirabilite [4.13] suggesting that the sediment originated in a

localized, highly saline water body such as a kettle or ice-marginal lake.

Many of them are located along the main morainic ridges or they lie close to glacier margin. In all

the investigated features of this type it was found a core of ice beneath a shallow (< 1.0 m)

superficial debris cover [4.13] [4.14] [4.15]. The debris mantling these cones is similar to the

“Younger Drift” of the surrounding area and they were interpreted by Orombelli [4.15] as ablation

phenomena associated with debris-covered dead-ice terrain.

On the other hand several of the cones appear intimately associated with the small perennially

frozen lakes in which they occur [4.10] [4.11].

French and Guglielmin [4.10] [4.11] suggested that some of these small mounds in the Northern

Foothills are hydrologic phenomena analogous to the seasonal frost blisters described in the Arctic

territory (e.g. [4.16] [4.17]). According to Guglielmin and French [4.10] [4.11] the isotopical

signature of the intrusive ice is more similar to the buried relict glacier ice of Boulder Clay than to

the lake ice, but the intrusive ice (without any foliation or stratification) in a classical plot δ 18

O-δD

lies along a line with a slope much lower than the GMWL along which the buried ice is located.

Therefore the authors hypothesized that the highly negative isotopic values reflect a combination of

intrusion and segregation ice that formed at variable depth within the perennial lake-ice water or

under the bottom of the lake.

The debris cones related to the perennially frozen lake are therefore more correctly “frost mounds”

that are not seasonal but at least in the one case dated exceed 1,000 year (1,020 year BP) [4.18].

The perennially frozen lakes are widespread along the Boulder Clay area and in many cases they are

characterized by the occurrence of another permafrost feature: the icing blisters.

Lake-ice blisters are circular to elliptical in plan and have ridge-like or slightly domed cross-

sections. Most have one major longitudinal dilation crack and several narrower radial cracks larger

at the surface than at depth. Their depth vary but in general it is not exceeding the blister height.

These blisters have a mean length around 11 m and a mean height of 0.44 m. Maximum length is 35

m and maximum height is 1.6 m, but fewer than 10% exceed 0.8 m in height or 20 m in length

[4.19]. Their volume is 10 m3 on average, although the largest can reach more than 150 m

3. These

blisters show a positive correlation between lake area and total ice blister volume that varies from

one year to the next [4.19]. In each lake also the number and the position of the blisters vary.

According to Guglielmin et al. [4.19] only one third of the lakes have all the years at least one

blister. The icing blisters, as in Arctic, are seasonal features. During the warmest summer in the


period 1985-2010 (summer 2001-02) all ice blisters disappeared. These blisters indicate clearly that

there is liquid water at the bottom of the lakes [4.19].

The existence of supra-permafrost taliks can be eliminated because water flow within the active

layer has not been observed in any of the many trenches excavated over the years in the immediate

proximity of the lakes with blisters. The same authors reported also that there are few evidence of

groundwater flow in intra-permafrost talik, the terrain around the lakes is gently sloping and it does

not appear conducive to generating hydraulic pressures. Nevertheless open hydro-chemical taliks

exist as demonstrated by the layer of brine, 25 cm thick, liquid at a temperature around -14°C and

with a salinity at least four times higher than the seawater, found beneath the frozen lake-bottom in

a borehole drilled in 2003 [4.19]. In the same lake for the first time the existence of quite relevant

hydraulic pressure was measured as well.

More recently, during the summer 2013-2014, for the first time since the beginning of the

monitoring, some lakes were partially melting. From the same campaign it can be confirmed that

open talik cannot be excluded in the Boulder Clay area.

Active layer measurements were performed within the Boulder Clay CALM grid, which is a 100 m

x 100 m grid. The station uninterrupted monitoring has continued since 1996. The measurements

were carried out on each of the 121 grid points through two different methods: (a) ground probing

according to the CALM protocol [4.20] [4.21] and (b) measurement of the thermal profiles (down

to a depth of 30 cm) according to Guglielmin [4.22]. In the second case the active layer thickness

was then calculated as the 0°C depth by extrapolating from the two deepest temperature

measurements [4.22]. Ground surface temperatures were monitored at 2 cm depth with thermistors

with an accuracy of 0.1°C (acquisition time every 10 min).

In the period 1996–2012, the mean annual air temperature (MAAT) ranged between -15.3°C (2008)

and -12.5°C (2011), with an almost stable trend [4.23]. In the same period, summer air temperature

(DJFAir) ranged between -6°C (2008) and -2°C (2011), being apparently stable (Figure 4.3).

Air temperature and incoming solar radiation were recorded by the PNRA at AWS Eneide (74°41'S

164°05'E) located in the middle of the coastal latitudinal gradient.

The snow cover data are available since 2000 at the Boulder Clay CALM grid, with only three years

lacking (2007–2009). Snow cover showed a relatively large inter-annual variability, both relating to

the mean (6–18 cm) as well as the maximum values (<50–130 cm). Snow cover distribution is

strongly controlled by the meso-morphological features and, in particular, by the central E–W

oriented depression that acts always as the main accumulation zone. The possible spatial variations

are related to micro-morphological features (<10 m), such as big boulders, and some small

concavities and convexities that produce snow accumulation, mainly N–S or NE–SW oriented,

when the prevailing wind blows from the NW, as it did in 2013.


Figure 4.3: Climate trends in the period 1996–2012

with special reference to: mean annual air temperature (Air MAAT) and summer air temperature (DJF_air),

summer total incoming radiation (DJF_Radtot) and the summer soil thawing degree days (DJF_TDD 2 cm). All

data are kindly provided by the AWS Eneide with the exception of DJF_TDD 2 cm, which was provided by the

Boulder Clay permafrost station [4.23].

Figure 4.4: Active layer thickness (cm) (median, quartiles and range) measured at the Boulder Clay CALM

grid (100 m x 100 m, 121 nodes) in the period 2000–2013

(please note that there is a gap between the 2003 and 2013 measurements) [4.23].

At the Boulder Clay CALM grid, the active layer thickness showed a large variability (Figure 4.4),

both for its mean values (from 2 to 18 cm) and its ranges (maximum values between 23 and 92 cm),


with a slight increasing trend. For all years (with the exception of 2001), at intra-annual level, the

active layer thickness was strictly linked to the ground temperature at a depth of 10 cm (data not

shown). The correlation between the active layer thickness at Boulder Clay with the ground

temperature is testified also by the summer thawing degree days of the ground surface temperature

(DJF soil TDD) recorded at the boulder clay permafrost station, which exhibited a statistically

significant increase, although with a less pronounced trend than until 2009 [4.23].

4.1.2. Boulder Clay GPR survey

In order to achieve more information about the till moraine located at Boulder Clay Glacier, several

geophysical activities were carried out, from ENEA-UTA, during the summer Antarctic expeditions

2013-2014. In particular, Ground Probing Radar (GPR) surveys were initialized focusing on the

finalization of the project and trying to perform a comprehensive evaluation of its related impacts.

The glacial environment usually represents a very suitable context for GPR. This technique can be

considered a powerful tool for bedrock mapping in glacial environment because of the strong

contrast between ice or snow and rock (ice and snow have a good dielectric properties featured by a

low attenuation of the GPR pulse).

In the GPR survey, a GSSI Sir3000 unit equipped with different frequency antennas (100-200

MHz) was used. The main goals of the survey were:

a) define the average thickness of debris along the till moraine;

b) define the bedrock morphology in the Boulder Clay area;

c) define a model of the lake-ice blisters present in the area.

Reflection arrival times (TOF) were converted in depth using a EM wave speed of 0.168 m/ns

where direct analyses as common mid point acquisition or hyperbola diffractions were not possible

to achieve. Due to the extension of the surveyed area, both airborne and ground measures were

collected.

The airborne measures (only at 200 MHz frequency, see Figure 4.5) were mainly conducted for

covering the moraine area where a ground survey path was impossible to realize. Twin path surveys

have been collected with different recording time window (TWT, 450 ns and 900 ns) in order to get

information about a) and b) objectives respectively.

The on-ground measures were instead focused on b) and c) objectives and both the bistatic 100

MHz antennas and the monostatic 200 MHz were used. All the profiles were positioned by a

synchronized GPS acquisition and post-processed by vertical and horizontal band-pass filtering,

predictive deconvolution, gain equalization and migration. Where possible the bedrock and the

debris thickness data were mapped by a Kriging operator (linear variogram model) and reported as

maps on a 2012 GeoEye satellite image of the area.


a) Debris thickness on the till moraine

Figure 4.5 reports the map of the average debris thickness data recorded by the airborne survey. As

reported, debris coverage heavily hamper signal penetration at relatively high frequencies but,

nevertheless, we connected the presence of diffractions as a consequence of presence of debris in

the ice.

In Figure 4.6 it is possible to observe two examples of radargrams (Sections A-A’ and B-B’) where

the ice surface reflection (flight height) and an highly irregular and diffractive shallow part is

clearly visible. Keeping into account the signal hampering, it seems clear that ice matrix increases

quickly with depth. In order to uniform the dataset, only the variation of the bright upper diffractive

layer was picked and mapped.

Figure 4.5: Map of debris thickness carried out by means of airborne survey.


Figure 4.6: Representative radargrams and map of debris thickness.

b) Bedrock morphology in the Boulder Clay area

These sections are reported as radargrams in Figure 4.8 and were collected respectively by the

ground survey (100 MHz pair antennas; Section AA’) and by the airborne survey (200 MHz;

Section BB’ and CC’). Each profile was topographically corrected on the base of the Geoeye DEM

(10 m resolution) while the vertical exaggeration factor used is 2 for Section AA’ and 4 for Sections

BB’ and CC’.

The section AA’ (Figure 4.8 a) crosses the glacier valley from ridge to ridge and it is tangent to the

northern limit of the moraine (see Figure 4.7). The echoes reflected from the bedrock are very clear

only in the first and in the last part of the profile for about 200 m, steeply descending and rising

when the profile approached the valley sides. In the middle the ice thickness is probably greater

than 80 m. The black dots box, shows the side view of the ice-cored moraine that probably fill a

large part of the ice, where the bedrock echoes are missed, and it seems to set up of an accumulation

of largely inhomogeneous materials. The blue dot box shows the part of the glacier where there is a

positive snow accumulation. It appears as a well stratified area of about 350 m long and with a

maximum recognizable thickness of about 25 m.


Figure 4.7: Map of interpolated ice thickness in the Boulder Clay Glacier.

The section BB’ (Figure 4.8 b) crosses the Boulder Clay Glacier from West to Est in its middle part.

The profile starts in a small ice-filled depression (first 200 m) located in the higher part of the

bedrock outcrop. The bedrock steeply falls into the glacier body at about 500 m from the beginning,

remaining visible for about 180 m where the ice reaches a thickness of about 30 m. Along this part

and according with the change in topographic slope, it is possible to recognize again the lee-side

snowfield with positive accumulation (blue dot box) for a total length of about 260 m and a

thickness of about 30 m. The part comprised between 800 and 1,700 m along the profile is flown

over the moraine. As expected, in this area high scattering effect occurs hampering the signal

penetration but, however, small parts of coherent deeper reflections are visible (i.e. from 1,050 to


1,200 m and from 1,360 to 1,400 m). From 1,700 m to the end of the profile, the bedrock reflection

is present again rising up to the surface, where the bedrock emerges at about 2,000 m, and submerge

again from 2,400 m to the end of the profile.

Figure 4.8: Representative radargrams from sections in Figure 4.7.

Blue dot boxes are for detected accumulation area; black dot boxes indicate the moraine area on the profiles;

triangles indicate the buried saddles.


The section CC’ (Figure 4.8 c) reports part of the profile flew from North to South along the glacier

elongation direction. It shows two bedrock structures rising from 500 to 750 m and from 1,460 to

2,170 m where the minimum ice thickness values are 20 m and 8 m respectively. These structures

drive also the topography altitude along the profile that reaches its maximum over them. Besides,

the upper part of the profile clearly shows also the variation in snow accumulation along a large part

of the lee-side snowfield.

c) Model of a lake-ice blister

As the runway project is based on the moraine area, it was also important to get information on

shallow glacial features (lakes, blister lakes, crevasses, etc.). On this task, the airborne survey was

doubled reducing the instrument recording window (250-400 ns) and the flight speed.

Figure 4.9: a) Map of melting lakes detected by the GPR airborne survey.

In the insert, a zoomed view of the cyan dot rectangle; b) Example radargram of melting lake signature on

airborne GPR data; c) Example of crevasses signature on airborne GPR data.

The presence of supraglacial frozen lakes in Northern Foothills area, and thus on Boulder Clay

Glacier, is well known. Some of them were catalogued as lake-ice blisters that typically occur on

small perennially ice-covered lakes. Figure 4.9 (Section DD’) represents a good example of how,

these features, can appear on radargrams. The red circle indicates a really small depression (25 m

long; 1 m deep) filled with quite homogenous ice (no sign of internal reflections) and impossible to

recognize on the Geoeye image (see Figure 4.9a insert). The yellow circle indicates instead as

lightly larger lake (80 m long; 3.5 m deep) in which it is possible to recognize two reflection

surfaces under a cover of homogenous ice. This intermediate layer could be ascribed to the

accumulation of heterogeneous material on the lake bottom. During the summer time, dark stones


warmed by the sun start to penetrate the ice cover falling on the bottom especially if the lake

becomes completely unfrozen.

Besides, the presence of a full homogeneous ice-cover could be also interpreted as a sign of a

complete melting of the ice cover during the warmer period. Because of the larger dimension, this

lake is easily recognizable also on the Geoeye map (insert in Figure 4.9a). The last example

reported (cyan circle) points out another lake (110 m long; 4.7 m deep) where it is possible to

observe a not complete-homogenous ice coverage in the latter part of the profile. It is noteworthy

that the lake flanks appear sharply sloped and associated in depth with diffractions that look similar

to crevasses. The hyperbolic-shaped diffractive area detectable at about 310 m along the profile (15

m deep) seems to support this hypothesis. The left side of cyan circle lake well represents this

particular situation where the ice surface looks collapsed and tilted as a rigid block and

subsequently filled by snow that could be partially melted during the warmer season.

In order to enhance the geophysical characterization of these small melting lakes we took the

chance for acquiring (late November 2013) a small on-ground survey on one (indicated by the white

circle) of the frozen lakes located inside the red dot rectangle in Figure 4.9a.

The ice surface was characterized by a raised topographic bump close to its centre of about 40 cm

where ice was also fractured. The strong flat reflections present in Sections AA’ and BB’ (Figure

4.10) are ascribable to the presence of a free melt water surface. In fact, it returns a large amount of

the transmitted energy because of the strongly increased contrast in dielectric properties moving

from an ice/rock to an ice/water interface.

Figure 4.10: a) Representative radargrams, b) map of lake ice blister.

This strong reflected energy generates also a multiple effect observable particularly in Section AA’.

Because of the presence of water at lake bottom, it was not possible to define the real lake bed

geometry limiting the maximum recorded depth to the ice/water interface (about 3.5 m).

a)

)

b)


It is noteworthy that there is an accumulation of debris material located near the lake centre and

elongated in NE-SW direction where also the ice surface bump occurs.

Many of these lakes appeared completely melt in the late summer season in contrast of their

believed “perennially frozen” status. Moreover, the shape of these kind of lakes and their middle-

placed accumulation material represent a reliable marker to recognize them on satellite images (see

Paragraph 4.1.4).

During Georadar survey (Nov. 22nd

, 2013), ENEA-UTA performed water sampling in ice blister

lake of Figure 4.10b, through a coring positioned in correspondence of intersection A-A’ and B-B’.

In situ measurement, at a depth of 1.5 m, was made with a multi-parametric probe (HI 9828),

physicochemical parameters of the water fined at the bottom of the lake are reported in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Physical-chemical parameters of lake ice blister water performed in situ.

Parameters Value

Dissolved oxygen (mg/L) 0.28

pH 9.00

Temperature (°C) 0.14

Resistivity (MΩ/cm) 0.0002

Conductivity (µS/cm) 4091

Total dissolved solids (ppm) 2045

Salinity 2.13

Oxidation-Reduction Potential -154.4

The same water sample characterized in situ has been later analysed in ENEA Laboratories

(Technical Unit for Prevention, characterization and environment remediation – Bio-geochemical

Environmental laboratory) to determine the main cationic and anionic contents (Sample 1 of Table

4.2). In addition in same summer campaign (Jan. 28th

, 2014) after the partial melting of the lake, a

new sample has been taken and analysed in the same laboratory (Sample 2 of Table 4.2).

Table 4.2: Composition of water sampled in the lake ice blister of Fig. 4.10b.

Sample COND. pH Ca Mg Na K HCO3 SO4 Cl NO3

uS/cm

mg/L

1 4,120 6.3 144 36 737 29 21 875 618 <0.1

2 56 6.1 3.2 0.4 6.3 0.5 7 9.4 4.9 <0.1

The compositional variation of water before and after the ice melting is evident from results

reported in Table 4.2, indeed the high salinity water located in the lake bottom during cold season is

gradually diluted by the ice melting.


ENEA-UTA and other researchers [4.24] found life in this particular lakes ice blister, both in high

salinity and melted fresh water seasonal condition. The microorganisms that can survive at such

conditions (salinity and temperature) are commonly found in the Victoria land and other Antarctica

regions and are briefly reported in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3: Microorganisms found in Lake ice blister.

Philodina gregaria

Philodina alata

Adineta grandis

4.1.3. Geodetic survey

A geodetic network of 12 points was set up on the moraine in December 2013 to evaluate a possible

differential displacement along the runway path. The first measures (zero measure), the second ones

(November 2014) and the third ones (December 2015) were performed using a differential GPS

instrument (DGPS). The network was positioned on the base of a preliminary multi-temporal

analysis carried out using aerial and satellite images. The next Table 4.4 summarizes the

displacements magnitude and the relative directions of all the points located and measured on the

moraine. The displacement measured is in the order of centimetres and this testifies the absence of

significant differential movements along the moraine. Further evaluations about the moraine

deformations have been deduced by means of an interferometric study carried out on the area on the

base of CosmoSkyMed satellite images.

Table 4.4: Two years geodetic network displacement

id Lat Long Planimetric

(m) Altimetric

(m) Azimuth

(°) local aspect

(°)

BC01 471723.0011 1705921.4166 0.004 0.013 238 57

BC02 471361.8207 1705988.1361 0.009 0.005 92 45

BC03 471377.8654 1705501.1607 0.020 0.016 136 136

BC04 471651.5283 1705494.8237 0.038 0.033 109 102

BC05 471833.4165 1705280.4518 0.021 0.010 100 101

BC06 471741.0899 1704935.2880 0.023 -0.001 142 118

BC07 471845.2494 1704578.0558 0.077 0.009 108 110

BC08 471411.9954 1705038.4927 0.037 0.022 145 141

BC09 471382.1638 1704686.5689 0.037 0.017 123 102

BC10 471099.9735 1704249.4648 0.032 0.022 144 138

BC11 471126.2390 1703939.2565 0.082 0.017 173 150

BC12 471404.4502 1703913.2448 0.008 0.043 162 116


4.1.4. Moraine deformation by satellite SAR interferometry

One the most important uncertainties related to the construction of a gravel airstrip above a moraine

is the natural displacement of the ice substrate. An investigation, performed by using archive

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images, was carried out in order to detect and characterize

potential deformation processes affecting the area of interest.

Selection of satellite SAR data, data analysis and preliminary considerations

The analyses have been performed by using SAR images collected by the satellites of COSMO-

SkyMed constellation, managed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). More in details, 102 archive

images acquired in descending orbital pass have been selected. The scenes have been acquired in

"Stripmap Himage" mode with a nominal resolution of 3x3 m. Minimization of the temporal

decorrelation (i.e. loss of interferometric information between two images, which occurs when

reflectivity characteristics of the objects on the ground changes in time) has been the main criteria

for the data selection. For this purpose we have selected a stack characterized by:

i) low temporal baseline (i.e. the time interval between the acquisition of consecutive images);

ii) high number of images to optimize the advantages offered by A-DInSAR methods.

Selected images have been analysed as two different datasets: the Dataset A related to 2013 and the

Dataset B related to 2014. Specifically, the first dataset (53 images) covers the period from Feb. 25th

to Dec. 10th

2013, while the second dataset (49 images) covers the period from Jan. 11th

to Dec. 1st

2014.

The investigated area was selected based on the following requirements: i) analysis pixels of the

SAR images characterized by a good signal quality, thus increasing the reliability of the results; ii)

ensure sufficient coverage of the area of interest (AOI).

Maps of displacement

Figure 4.11 shows the displacement maps derived by A-DInSAR processing of SAR images

acquired by COSMO-SkyMed. All displacement values are expressed in millimetres and refer to the

Line Of Sight (LOS) of the satellite sensor (i.e the direction joining the satellite to ground targets).

The SAR images used in this work, are characterized by a LOS direction about 325°N and an

incidence angle with respect to the flat ground of about 45° (please consider that the incident angle

varies over the AOI depending on the local topography).

The displacement values estimated for each dataset are differential with respect to reference points

(selected following quality criteria of the radar signal) that have been chosen outside of the moraine,

at the rocky outcrops located East of the moraine itself.

In particular, Figure 4.11 (a and b) shows the results derived from the A-DInSAR analyses on data-

stack related to periods Feb. 25th

- Dec. 10th

2013 (Dataset A) and Jan. 11th

- Dec. 1st 2014 (Dataset

B), respectively. The colours identify the movements (along the LOS) occurred in the study area


according to the following coding: warm colours (negative values) identify movements away from

the satellite, while cool colours (positive values) identify movements toward the sensor. Values

close to green colour indicate stable areas or movements near to the data accuracy available for this

area.

The maps have been generated applying the appropriate quality thresholds (based on the temporal

coherence) for the estimated displacement results, in order to increase the reliability of the results.

The analysed area includes, in addition to the moraine and rock outcrops located in the East sector,

also the final portion of a coastal glacier (well visible from SAR images) that bounds the southern

sector of the moraine along the western side.

The deformation processes, interesting this portion of the study area, were much more evident and

clearly visible during the preliminary stages of A-DInSAR analysis. However this part of the area

will be not interested by the airstrip displacement and then the relative higher drift speed will not be

considered as a problem for the project.

Figure 4.11: a and b - Displacement map related to Dataset A (2013) and Dataset B (2014).

Only pixels characterized by good quality signal falling within the investigation area have been analysed.

Displacements are expressed in millimetres and refer to the whole period. Positive values (cool colours) identify

movements toward the satellite. Negative values (warm colours) identify movements away from the satellite.

Values close to green colour indicate stable areas or movements near to the data accuracy.

a) b)


Conclusive remarks on the GPR, DGPS and A-DInSAR analyses

Figure 4.12 shows a differential interferogram computed from two SAR images acquired by the

COSMO-SkyMed constellation in "StripMap Himage" mode (nominal resolution 3x3 m). The

figure represents the area as seen from the satellite and the North arrow is located in the upper left.

The colours are related to the differential interferometric phase between two images acquired on

May 11th

, 2014 and on Dec. 6th

, 2014.

The multicolour area at the top represents the sea (pack) surface and appears to be strongly affected

by decorrelation, i.e. with no useful information. The blue areas on the background do not contain

any information. Particularly interesting is the area covered by more or less concentric fringes in the

upper right portion of the image (South-West), which shows the displacements of the coastal glacier

(the solid white line identifies the area). Each interferometric fringe, i.e. a whole red-blue colour

cycle (from -π to +π) represents displacement along the line of sight equal to half of the wavelength

(λ) of the used sensor. For COSMO-SkyMed, λ is equal to 3.1 cm, and then each fringe represents a

displacement of about 1.5 cm along the line of sight (LOS) that is parallel to the vertical axis of the

image (white vertical arrow). In this case a displacement of about 6 cm, which occurred between

May 11th

and June 6th

2014, is observable in the central area characterized by the concentric fringes

in the glacier.

Figure 4.12 summarizes, as a part of the comprehensive study of surface processes in the Boulder

Clay area, the movement along the line of sight. The rock glacier maintains an excellent coherence

during the 2 years of analysis. This testify an overall stability of the moraine confirmed from

vanishingly small velocity in the central and northern part of the area of interest.

A significant displacement is however evident in the south-western sector where the final portion of

the Boulder Clay glacier moves with an important velocity in the direction of Adelie Cove site. The

distribution of the fringes (from red to orange) in the upstream of the glacier (ellipses in white

dotted line) would confirm the hypothesis of a power of the glacier from the right (with reference to

the image), or from the West. Anyway, this displacement does not affect the infrastructure

imposition area and in addition, no evidences of movement linked to this movement are visible in

the nearby area such as the formation of superficial tension crack on the moraine and relevant

buried crevasses in the glacier. This is probably due to the particular topography of the bedrock

buried beneath the moraine as we have seen in Figure 4.8c.

Figure 4.13 reports the overlay of the measured GPS vectors on the GPR main results. GPS vectors

confirm that bedrock saddles (red, green and yellow triangles in the figure) operate an ice separation

on Boulder Clay moraine in three main parts. The northern part of the Boulder Clay moraine is

characterized by small or null movements, while the centre part seems to have a slight eastward

flow in direction of the narrow funnel-shaped valley on the right of BC07 station. Crossing the

southern saddle, ice clearly flows toward Adelie Cove with a source area clearly placed in the

western sector.


Figure 4.12: Boulder Clay area differential interferogram.


Figure 4.13: GPS Stations vectors (December 2013-November 2015) and buried bedrock saddles.


4.2. Climate and meteorology

The Meteo-Climatological Observatory of PNRA has collected 28 years of meteorological data

since the installation of the first permanent Automatic Weather Station (AWS) ‘Eneide’ in 1987.

Among the AWS belonging to the Italian monitoring network, the most representative in the area of

interest are Eneide and Rita (Table 4.5 and Figure 4.14).

Table 4.5: Coordinates and features of Eneide and Rita weather stations in MZS area.

AWS LAT LON ARGOS

ID HEIGHT ALTITUDE SENSORS

INSTALL. DATE

ENEIDE 74°41'45.3''S 164°05'31.8''E 7353 10 m 91.94 m

Pressure Temperature

Humidity Wind speed

Wind direction Solar radiation

Jan. 1987

RITA 74°43'29.9''S 164°01'59.3''E 7354 10 m 267.67 m


Humidity Wind speed

Wind direction

Jan. 1993

In order to monitor the candidate sites for the construction of the runway, and in particular to

characterize the behaviour of the wind vector, on February 2013 (XXVIII Italian Expedition) five

new automatic weather stations (K1 - K5) were installed in the ‘Boulder Clay’ and ‘Campo

Antenne’ areas (Table 4.6 and Figure 4.14).

Table 4.6: Coordinates and features of K1, K2, K3, K4, K5 weather stations in MZS area.

AWS LAT LON HEIGHT ALTITUDE SENSORS

K1 74°44'37.3"S 163°56'24.6"E 6 m 475.3 m


Humidity Wind speed

Wind direction (Anemometer and wind wane at 6m)

K2 74°43'47.9"S 164°03'14.6"E 10 m 146.2 m


Humidity Wind speed

Wind direction (Anemometer and wind wane at 6m, plus

ultrasonic 3D anemometer at 10m)

K3 74°45'03.4"S 164°01'17.0"E 6 m 183.1 m


Humidity Wind speed


K4 74°42'30.0"S 164°04'22.4"E 6 m 276.0 m


Humidity Wind speed


K5 74°42'19.4"S 164°06'17.7"E 6 m 117.3 m


Humidity Wind speed



Figure 4.14: Detail of the area of interest, showing airways and automatic weather stations

(Eneide, Rita, K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5).


4.2.1. Temperature

The climate in the Terra Nova Bay area is heavily conditioned by the circulation of the Ross Sea

and the strong orographic influence of the Transantarctic Mountains. Climatological studies have

shown that many observed sub-synoptic scale disturbances and mesoscale cyclogenesis occurring

around Terra Nova Bay area are linked to the interaction between a relatively warm air over the

Ross Sea and strong katabatic outbreaks descending from the high plateau through the Reeves and

Priestly glaciers [4.25].

The trend of monthly mean values of air temperature recorded by AWS Rita and Eneide during the

year is nearly identical, with AWS Rita temperature values are constantly some degrees lower than

those of AWS Eneide (Figure 4.15 and Figure 4.16).

Figure 4.15: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS Eneide (data from Feb. 1987 to Nov. 2011).

Figure 4.16: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS Rita (data from Jan. 1993 to Nov. 2011).


The monthly mean temperature shows the typical behaviour of the Antarctic coastal regions, with a

short summer, from late November to January, a “coreless” winter and very short transition seasons

(spring and autumn) interposed [4.25].

Temperature values acquired by AWS K1 (Figure 4.17), K2 and K3 during about two years of

operation, confirm qualitative characteristics of this behaviour, although showing, in

correspondence of central months of austral winter, wider fluctuations, which nevertheless fall

within the range of values recorded during more than 20 years also by AWS Eneide and Rita.

Figure 4.17: Monthly mean temperature collected by AWS K1 (data from Feb. 2103 to Jan. 2015).

4.2.2. Wind

Terra Nova Bay area is characterized by three different surface wind types, well distinct from one

another [4.26] [4.27]:

the katabatic wind, coming from W-WNW: it originates on the high central Antarctic

plateau and after channelling through the canyons of Priestly and Reeves glaciers blows

hard against the Northern Foothills;

the “barrier” wind, originated by the flow of cold and stably stratified air that crosses the

Ross Ice Shelf and moves towards W: when it impacts with the Transantarctic Mountains,

not possessing enough energy to cross them, is diverted to N, till reaching even the Northern

Foothills area;

surface winds locally generated by different combinations of gradients of temperature and

pressure.


The meteorological data collected during more than 20 years by the AWS Rita (summer season in

Figure 4.18) and in years 2013-2015 by K2 placed on airstrip extremity RWY20 (summer season in

Figure 4.19) show that the prevailing wind in the area comes from W, WNW and WSW.

Figure 4.18: Wind speed and direction recorded by AWS Rita in summer seasons

(Oct. – Feb., hourly data from Jan. 1993 to Nov. 2011).

Figure 4.19: Wind speed and direction recorded by AWS K2 in summer seasons

(Oct. – Feb., hourly data from Feb. 2013 to Jan. 2015).


In the station Rita this characteristic is considerably more marked by an increased percentage

concentration of frequency and intensity for these two directions, as summarized in Table 4.7

Table 4.7: Comparison of AWS Eneide and Rita frequency and intensity of W and WNW wind directions.

October - February March - September

W WNW W WNW

Dir. % ff % ≥ 30 kts Dir. % ff % ≥ 30 kts Dir. % ff % ≥ 30 kts Dir. % ff % ≥ 30 kts

ENEIDE

hourly data

(Feb 1987 -

Nov 2011)

14.1 % 2.8 % 13.9 % 2.5 % 16.7 % 5.8 % 19.2 % 6.3 %

RITA

hourly data

(Jan 1993 -

Nov 2011)

28.5 % 9.0 % 11.7 % 5.6 % 30.7 % 15.7 % 15.3 % 10.3 %

Data acquired by AWS K1, K2 and K3 (Table 4.8), besides confirming this characteristic of the

area, reveal that, at the site of the runway, also the WSW wind origin assumes significant

frequencies and intensities. This wind origin direction (WSW), better aligning with the orientation

of the runway (NNE-SSW) and thereby reducing the crosswind component, can represent, from the

point of aviation activity, a rising of opportunities to use the runway during the months above

indicated.

Table 4.8: Comparison of AWS K1, K2, K3 and Rita percentage distribution of WSW wind directions

(hourly data, AWS K1, K2, K3: Feb. 2013 – Jan. 2015; AWS Rita: Feb. 2013 - Oct. 2014).

October November December January February Summer

(Oct – Feb) Winter

(Mar – Sep)

K1 11.6 16.0 26.7 29.5 21.0 20.7 9.6

K2 11.4 11.7 18.2 24.5 18.5 16.6 10.4

K3 6.3 15.4 18.5 20.6 17.1 16.8 10.0

RITA 3.7 5.7 7.3 7.0 4.5 5.7 4.3

While in the point of observation of AWS Rita the WSW wind origin can be considered as a

secondary one, in the runway area it has values comparable with those belonging to the main

directions, till rising to the role of local prevailing direction for K1 and K2 in the months of

December and January.

4.2.3. Wind shear

Detailed orography in the vicinity of the runway shows the presence of many reliefs measuring no

more than 500 meters in height and mostly aligned parallel to the axis of the runway: when the flow

of the prevailing wind hits them before reaching the runway itself, the wind’s dynamic


characteristics could be altered, favouring conditions that might originate the wind shear. Wind

shear, from an environmental point of view, could significantly alter the dynamics of expected

dispersion of polluting substances while, from an aeronautical point of view, could result in a

significant reduction in visibility caused by the flow of blowing snow, but above all, it could

generate dangerous effects of turbulence during the take-off or the landing of the aircrafts.

According to the Manual on Low-level Wind Shear (Doc 9817) by ICAO [4.28] the most

generalized explanation of wind shear is “a change in wind speed and/or direction in space,

including updrafts and downdrafts”.

The intensity of the wind shear is commonly expressed in meters per second per 30 m (m/s per 30

m) or in knots per 100 ft (kts per 100 ft) and classified according to the interim criteria

recommended by the Fifth Air Navigation Conference (Montreal, 1967), as reported in Table 4.9.

Table 4.9: Wind shear classification recommended by the Fifth Air Navigation Conference

(Montreal, 1967) [4.27].

Interim criteria for wind shear intensity

LIGHT 0 to 4 kts inclusive per 30 m (100 ft)

MODERATE 5 to 8 kts inclusive per 30 m (100 ft)

STRONG 9 to 12 kts inclusive per 30 m (100 ft)

SEVERE above 12 kts per 30 m (100 ft)

In the runway area vertical wind shear has been calculated at the position of AWS K2, using AWS

Rita as the upper air measuring point: although the two points are shifted by about 800 meters from

each other, their location, related to orography and prevailing wind, allows with a good

approximation to equate the values of the wind detected by AWS Rita with the wind that blows on

the vertical axis of K2, at the same altitude of Rita.

The graph of Figure 4.20 shows the distribution of intensity and direction of the vectors of vertical

wind shear at the point of K2 in the whole period of observation, where the colored areas refer to

the corresponding criteria of ICAO: results are that almost all of the episodes (about 98%) can be

classified as light or moderate.

Along the longitudinal axis of the runway the horizontal wind shear has been calculated using the

values of AWS K2 and K3. The graph in Figure 4.21 shows for the entire period of observation

wind shear vectors with very low intensities, all classified as light.

More detailed analysis will be performed using a mathematical model of the wind field centred in

the area of interest, which is currently under development as part of a technical-scientific

cooperation with the Italian Air Force.


Figure 4.20: Intensity and direction distribution of vertical wind shear between Rita and K2

(LIGHT (green), MODERATE (yellow), STRONG (pink), SEVERE (red);

hourly data from Feb. 2013 – Oct. 2014).

Figure 4.21: Intensity and direction distribution of horizontal wind shear between K3 and K2

(LIGHT (green), MODERATE (yellow), STRONG (pink), SEVERE (red);

hourly data from Feb. 2013 – Jan. 2015).


4.2.4. Precipitation

In the Northern Foothills precipitation, almost entirely in the form of snow, approximates the 270

mm/year of water equivalent [4.29].

The site of Boulder Clay is more exposed to the katabatic winds from the inland areas and the

roughness of the ground, caused by the stones that make up the till, favours the development of

numerous accumulations of snow drifts, generally aligned SE- NW [4.22].

4.3. Biology and natural environment

The whole Terra Nova Bay and Wood Bay area (immediately at North of Terra Nova Bay) are

particularly valuable sites for biological science due to the extraordinary presence of marine and

terrestrial flora and fauna, with a database on their living resources running since 20 years.

Extensive marine ecological research has been carried out at Terra Nova Bay since the middle of

the eighties contributing substantially to our understanding of communities not previously well

described. High diversity at both species level and community level gives to this area a high

ecological and scientific value.

Wood Bay and Terra Nova Bay areas are among the most biologically and ecologically diverse in

Antarctica with many species of bryophytes, lichens, marine birds, mammals and invertebrates.

These organisms are present on both marine and terrestrial ecosystem and whole marine system

produces a clear influence on regional ecological processes: for instance, a colony of South polar

skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) breed within the area.

In the Terra nova Bay area, the following protected areas are present: Edmonson Point (ASPA n°

165), Terra Nova Bay marine protected area (ASPA n°161), Mount Melbourne (ASPA n°118),

Cape Washington and Silverfish Bay (ASPA n°173). Furthermore, the area is characterized by

Adélie and emperor penguin colonies and skua colonies at Edmonson Point, Cape Washington,

Adelie Cove and Inexpressible Island.

Impacts of human activities on the Antarctic environment date back to the 18th

century with the

arrival of the first exploring and sealing expeditions. Recent studies have further defined the nature

of local chemical contamination in Antarctica and the main sources of contamination are now well

established: fuel spills, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), contamination derived from

other persistent contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated

dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) from combustion processes.

Over the past decade, the intensity and diversity of human activities in Antarctica have continued to

increase and sources of contamination and impact on flora and fauna are increasing as well.

Regarding the human activities in the area of Terra Nova Bay, they are mainly related to the already

mentioned summer Italian MZS station, seasonal German Gondwana Station and new Korean Jang

Bogo Station.


4.3.1. Fauna

The fauna of Terra Nova Bay area comprises 5 species of seabirds, 2 species of seals and 3 species

of whales:

Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)

Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)

South Polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki)

Snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea)

Wilson’s Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus)

Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)

Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii)

Killer whales (Orcinus orca)

Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis)

Arnoux’s beaked whale (Berardius arnuxii)

During the Antarctic summer season about 30 skua pairs breed close to the penguins, and leopard

seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) were sighted several times in different years at the end of the slope that

penguins climb to reach the colony site, or ice floes adjacent to the cove (Figure 4.22).

Adélie penguins, the most numerous species in the area, need ice-free land with a supply of small

rocks used to build nests and, although they are very nimble, they are unable to climb tall cliffs.

Also, they don’t like to walk very far over ice to find the open water they need for feeding. They

preferably form colonies on moraines. These deposits supply the stones used by Adélie Penguins to

build their nests. For this reason one of the three breeding sites for Adélie penguin in the Terra

Nova Bay area is located on the Northern Foothills at the end of the falling edge of the moraine

deposits of Boulder Clay, where the physical conditions permit the presence of this species.

In general the Northern Foothills appear an important area for seabirds, where also more than 70

skua nests and some Wilson Storm Petrel nests were observed [4.30]. The South Polar skua colony

surveyed by Ainley in the 80’s [4.31] nearby Terra Nova Bay no longer exists and although there

are still a few pairs scattered around the Italian station. With regard to the Wilson Storm Petrel,

nesting sites were observed at Campo Icaro [4.30] and also several species of toothed and baleen

whales have been recently reported for the Terra Nova Bay area [4.32].

Baroni et al. [4.33] showed as in Terra Nova Bay two abandoned sites of Adélie penguins exist

along with the active site of Adelie Cove. This colony is located on a coastal slope 50-100 m high

from the sea level (ASPA n. 161) 8 km South from MZS (Figure 4.22) and is one of the oldest in

the Terra Nova Bay area being occupied since 5000 years BP (see Lorenzini et al. [4.34] and

reference herein). Lyver et al. [4.35] estimates a number of 11.234 breeding pairs during the 2012

summer season.


Figure 4.22: Map of the points where skua nests were found at Boulder Clay site during surveys in summer 2009

and 2015, along with the upper limit of the penguins colony and the marine boundaries of leopard seals area.


Measurements of the size of Adélie penguin colonies of the southern Ross Sea are among the

longest biologic time series in the Antarctic. Since 1984, Harper et al. [4.36] counted in Terra Nova

Bay approximately 10,000 pairs of Adélie penguins, reasonably representing the penguins colony of

Adelie Cove near Boulder Clay site. Colonies in the surrounding of Terra Nova Bay, are reported in

Table 4.10.

Table 4.10: Mean colony counts of nesting territories along the Victoria Land coast in 2012. [4.35]

Colony Mean colony count (2012)

Franklin Island West 60,540

Inexpressible Island 24,450

Terra Nova Bay 11,234

Wood Bay 1,890

Coulman Island 24,010

Mandible Cirque 16,837

Cape Phillips 3,921

Cape Wheatstone 2,746

Cape Cotter 38,252

Cape Hallett 42,628

Foyn Island 30,494

Possession Island 111,306

Downshire Cliffs 19,617

Cape Adare 227,000

In general population responses of penguins to changing ecosystems can be complex. They have

been well described in many scientific papers about, space-temporal variation in climatic variables

resulting from phenomena such as long-term climate change, or shorter-term decadal atmospheric

variation [4.35] or changes in sea-ice conditions such as concentration, extent and thickness, air

temperatures, winds, sea surface temperatures (SST) and precipitation [4.37], or changes in the

abundance of their prey and/or structure and function of the marine ecosystem owing to other

factors [4.38].

When considering the upcoming construction of airstrip at Boulder Clay and the future operations

for the track and other human activities (scientific research activities and logistics, including

infrastructure construction and support), disturbance on birds from aircraft operations like noise

exposure, particulate emissions, oil spills and increased human presence should be taken into

account, along with the long-term impacts.

Disturbance for aircraft operations on birds has been described in the analysis of “detection-death”

scale [4.39].and behaviour of penguins (both adults and juveniles) as a result of the approach of an


aircraft has been studied [4.40], although in this regard even more complex environmental factors

may affect the dynamics of the population [4.41].

During the Italian Antarctic campaign in 2013, reaction tests to noise during the approach of an

aircraft were made using the overflight of a L100/30 at low altitude with piecing and output towards

the end of the future Boulder Clay runway. This condition would represent a very conservative

event, because the colony is outside the route of the aircraft, and flying over the colony would be an

accidental event. Phonometric record of that noise test was reported in the IP57 presented by Italy at

the ATCM37/CEP17. The response resulting from sound measurements and video has been very

positive, highlighting a state of apparent calm inside the penguin colony.

Of course the minimum distances overflight of aircraft during operations near the Adelie Cove

penguin colony follow the guidelines on aircraft operations near concentration of birds in Antarctica

proposed by Harris [4.39]. The major event of disturbance for the penguin colony can happen when

touch and go procedure for safety reasons need to be performed. However, even in this unlikely

case, the worst situation, namely that of overflying at low altitude on penguin colony, will be

avoided by the need to return the portion in direct line with the axis of the track and then to a

vertical distance of slightly less than the limits considered by Harris [4.39].

4.3.2. Flora, vegetation and land use

The vegetation of continental Antarctica is exclusively composed of cryptogams (microfungi,

cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes), with lichens and bryophytes being the dominant

components of most terrestrial ecosystems.

Victoria Land (Ross sector) is characterized by the highest levels of biodiversity (in terms of

species richness, α diversity) among the different sectors of continental Antarctica, with the

documented occurrence of c. 57 species of lichens [4.42] [4.43] (although some papers report up to

92 lichen species [4.44]) and of 14 species of bryophytes [4.45] [4.46].

Boulder Clay is one of the ice free areas with the highest levels of biodiversity observed at Victoria

Land, with the occurrence of 7 species of mosses, 1 of liverworts and 34 species of lichens (of

which 8 relatively rare), accounting >50% of the whole bryophytes flora and c. 60 % of the lichen

flora of Victoria Land, according to Castello [4.44]. The high species richness and the occurrence of

several vegetation communities, although with scattered coverage, indicates that this site provides

different ecological niches available for vegetation colonization and development.

The vegetation of Boulder Clay belongs to different community types, ranging from different types

of epilithic lichen communities, to bryophytes dominated communities both with pure bryophytes

as well as with lichen encrusted bryophytes. These information are referred to the CALM grid area,

where a long-term monitoring of permafrost (1996), active layer thickness (1999) and vegetation

(2001/2002) has been carried out and is still ongoing [4.47] [4.23].


In particular, the following vegetation communities occur in the Boulder Clay area [4.43]:

- Usnea antarctica –Umbilicaria decussata;

- Buellia frigida;

- Lecidella siplei–Bryophytes;

- Pseudephebe minuscula–Lecidella siplei–Bryophytes;

- Epiphytic lichen encrusted Schistidium antarctici;

- Epiphytic lichen encrusted Bryum argenteum;

- Lecidea–Rhizocarpon;

- Bryum argenteum–Cyanobacteria;

- Schistidium antartici–Cyanobacteria.

Field Survey and Mapping Criteria

To assess the impact of the runway on flora and vegetation of Boulder Clay, a detailed vegetation

survey has been carried out in December 2015 being the previous available information limited to

the CALM grid area [4.47] [4.23] and therefore included only a small part of the runway track/path.

The 2015 survey aimed to: a) identify and map the occurrence of single vegetation species of

mosses and lichens, b) identify the vegetation communities and map their distribution and coverage,

c) quantify the species richness associated to the mapped communities.

Moreover, vegetation was surveyed also in the neighbour areas surrounding the runway to assess

whether the runway vegetation was different from that occurring outside the runway path and to

identify the species and/or communities deserving special protection and being priorities for

environmental protection and mitigation. In all areas (runway and adjacent areas) the vegetation

survey has been carried out using the phytosociological method (vegetation relevés). Among the

analyzed area, particular attention and detail was devoted to the runway path. In the field the

occurrence of each single vegetation species and/or of each vegetation community was recorded in

detail. Particular attention has been devoted to the occurrence and distribution of bryophytes and

lichen species, while for algae and cyanobacteria the survey was not performed at the species level

but they were recorded as the generic categories (Algae; Cyanobacteria).

For each survey point the following data have been recorded:

- GPS position,

- size of the vegetated area,

- total vegetation coverage (%),

- list of the species of bryophytes and lichens observed in the field and their % coverage;

- vegetation formation and community.

In addition small vegetation samples have been collected to assess in laboratory the occurrence of

other species not recognizable in the field.


As in most cases the size of the vegetated areas was very small (with the smallest vegetation

patches having a size of about 10 x 10 cm and most patches being ≤ 1m2), each single

species/vegetation patch recorded has been reported in the map as single points, while only the

patches having a size larger than 10m2 have been represented as polygons in the map. For what

concerns the vegetation formations and communities, they have been recognized following the

criteria identified by [4.43] analyzing flora and vegetation of Victoria Land.

All the vegetation data have been reported in a GIS system to develop specific maps providing

information concerning the occurrence and distribution of single species as well as of vegetation

communities and, hence, of their ecology.

Flora and Vegetation of the Runway track/pathway

Along the runway track/pathway for the vegetation survey were carried out 368 vegetation relevés

and was recorded the occurrence of 2 species of bryophytes, 19 species of lichens, Algae and

Cyanobacteria (Table 4.11).

All the formations, orders and alliances identified by Cannone & Seppelt [4.43] for Victoria Land

have been observed and mapped within the runway path. The relevés data were elaborated to

identify the occurrence of specific vegetation communities, which provided detailed information on

the edaphic conditions at the local scale. Most communities belong to eight of the fourteen

associations described by [4.43] for Victoria Land. In addition, also the community Schistidium

antarctici, occurring both in pure stands with Cyanobacteria as well as with lichenized by epiphytic

lichens, have been observed within the runway.

All the runway path was characterized by a diffuse epilithic colonization extended on wide areas,

with mean coverage ranging between 10% and 25%, and only few areas where the epilithic

colonization was less than 1% (Figure 4.23). These diffuse epilithic communities mainly included

two different formations: a) microlichen vegetation dominated by Buellia frigida, b) mixed micro-

and macrolichen vegetation (mainly observed in the central and northern part of the runway),

characterized by the occurrence of the macrolichens Usnea antarctica and/or Umbilicaria decussata

and/or of Pseudephebe minuscule, occurring with Buellia frigida and other crustose microlichen

species (e.g. Acarospora gwynii, Lecidea cancriformis).


Table 4.11: List of the species occurring in Boulder Clay area, within the runway path and in the quarry areas

Bryophytes Boulder Clay Area Runway Path Quarries

Bryum argenteum X X X

Bryum pseudotriquetrum X X

Ceratodon purpureus X

Hennediella hiemii X

Schistidium antartici X X X

Syntrichia magellanica X X

Syntrichia sarconeurum X X

Liverworts

Cephaloziella exiliflora X

Lichens (Lichenes)

Acarospora gwynnii X X

Acarospora flavocordia* X

Buellia darbishirei X

Buellia frigida X X

Buellia grimmiae* X X

Buellia lignoides X

Buellia pallida X

Buellia papillata* X

Caloplaca approximata* X

Caloplaca athallina X X

Caloplaca citrina X

Caloplaca lewis-smithii X X

Candelaria murray X

Candelariella flava X X X

Candelariella vitellina* X

Carbonea vorticosa X

Lecanora expectans X X X

Lecanora fuscobrunnea X X

Lecanora mons-nivis X

Lecanora physciella X

Lecanora sverdrupiana* X

Lecidea andersonii* X

Lecidea cancriformis X X X

Lecidella siplei X X X

Lepraria cacuminum X X X

Physcia caesia X X

Pseudephebe minuscula X X X

Rhizocarpon geminatum X X X

Rhizocarpon geographicum* X X X

Tephromela atra X

Umbilicaria aprina X X

Umbilicaria decussata X X X

Usnea antarctica X X

Usnea sphacelata X

Xanthomendoza borealis X

Xanthoria elegans X X X


The single vegetation relevés allowed to identify twelve different vegetation communities, in

particular:

1) Bryum argenteum in pure stands with Cyanobacteria;

2) Bryum argenteum lichenized by epiphytic lichens (Lepraria cacuminum, Lecidella siplei) with

Cyanobacteria;

3) Schistidium antarctici in pure stands with Cyanobacteria;

4) Schistidium antarctici lichenized by epiphytic lichens (Lepraria cacuminum, Lecidella siplei)

with Cyanobacteria;

5) Lichen encrusted Bryum argenteum and Schistidium antarctici;

6) Bryophytes (Bryum argenteum and Schistidium antarctici) with Pseudephebe minuscula;

7) Usnea antarctica with Buellia frigida;

8) Usnea antarctica with Umbilicaria decussata;

9) Umbilicaria decussata with Buellia frigida;

10) Buellia frigida, both alone and, in some cases, with other epilithic lichens as companion

species including Acarospora gwynnii, Lecidea cancriformis, Rhizocarpon geographicum;

11) Pure stands of Cyanobacteria;

12) Pure stands of Algae.

Each community is characterized by different ecological requirements and may provide indirect

information on the edaphic conditions along the runway path.

Among the bryophytes, Bryum argenteum is a mesic species, while Schistidium antarctici is more

linked to xeric conditions and indicate lower water availability. The occurrence of lichen encrusted

bryophytes in most cases indicate a further decrease of water availability and increasing xericity,

respect to their occurrence in pure stands.

Among the lichen dominated communities, the occurrence of Pseudephebe minuscula is often

associated to late melting snow. Indeed, in many cases (also within the runway path) P. minuscula

is associated to bryophytes and occurs in sheltered plates where snow accumulates more and tends

to melt later, providing a longer and/or larger water supply. Similar ecology, although less mesic,

characterizes Usnea Antarctica, a species typical of Northern Victoria Land.

Umbilicaria decussata is an epilithic species with wide ecological amplitude concerning water

availability and may occur in xeric as well as in mesic habitats, both in pure stands (or associated

with other epilithic lichen species) and associated to xeric bryophytes (such as Schistidium

antarctici, as observed along the runway path). Pure stands of Algae indicate the occurrence of

higher water availability and nutrient enrichment, while Cyanobacteria tend to occur in pioneer

conditions and/or where there is soil disturbance.

45% of the relevés were pure bryophytes stands (1, 3), with Shistidium antarctici occurring with a

frequency more than the double than Bryum argenteum. About 27% of the relevés were lichen

encrusted bryophytes (communities 2, 4, 5), while only 7.3% were pure Cyanobacteria stands (11).


The macrolichen dominated communities (6-9) occurred in 14.1% of the relevés, while the

microlichen communities (10) involved only 4.3% of the relevés and the pure stands of Algae were

limited to 1.6%. The diffuse epilithic colonization on wide areas has been reported in the map as

polygons showing the type of the main epilithic formations occurring within the runway and their

mean percentage coverage (%) (Figure 4.23 left side). The highest % coverage of the epilithic

vegetation was observed at the northern edge of the runway, while the largest occurrence of diffuse

epilithic vegetation by macrolichens (mainly Usnea, Umbilicaria and Pseudephebe) occurred in the

central part of the runway.

Figure 4.23: Maps of the diffuse epilithic colonization on runway area

showing the type of formation(microlichens vs macrolichens and mixed macro- and microlichens) and

their mean % coverage (left side) along with the community types of each single relevés (right side).

In combination with this topic, the location of each single relevés on the basis of the community

types described above has been added in a new map (Figure 4.23 right side) showing in detail where

and which vegetation communities occurred in single small patches along the runway path, along

with the main characteristics of the diffuse epilithic colonization occurring on wide areas . From

this map, it is possible to observe that most relevés were composed of bryophyte dominated

communities, both in pure stands as well as lichenized by epiphytic lichens. The relevés

characterized by the occurrence of macrolichens and/or of bryophytes associated to macrolichens

were mainly located in the central and southern side of the runway, closer to the area characterized

by the largest occurrence of frozen lakes and closer to the CALM grid area. In addition, the

percentage coverage (%) of the vegetation has been reported in Figure 4.24 (left side). Here the data


referred to the % coverage of each single relevées and of the polygons representing the diffuse

epilithic colonization on wide areas. The epilithic coverage was highest in the northern extreme of

the runway and higher in the central and in part of the southern side of the runway. The coverage of

bryophytes and of the other mapped communities was higher in the northern and central part of the

runway. This is in agreement with the occurrence, in southern Boulder Clay, of several frozen lakes.

A last map reported the species richness associated to each single relevés, obtained as the number of

species recorded (Figure SR). As the vegetation samples are still in travel, this map is provisory.

Figure 4.24: Percentage coverage (%) of the vegetation within the pathway

obtained by the % coverage of each single relevés as well as of the polygons

representing the diffuse epilithic colonization on wide areas (left side),

along with the species richness (number of species recorded for each relevés) (right side).

Flora and Vegetation of the areas neighbour to the Runway track/pathway

The vegetation of the areas surrounding the runway path was analysed to assess whether and how it

was similar or not to the vegetation occurring within the runway path. These data allowed to

perform a comparison (runway path vs surrounding areas) to identify the species and/or

communities deserving special protection and being priorities for environmental protection,

biodiversity conservation and selected as priorities for the mitigation actions within the runway.

For what concerns the bryophyte dominated communities, the vegetation of the surrounding areas

was enough similar to that of the runway concerning the vegetation formations, with similar


communities, although the surrounding areas were characterized by lower coverage and less

extensive patches of pure bryophyte stands.

The most important difference between the runway and the surrounding areas concerned the

macrolichen vegetation. Indeed, the surrounding areas were characterized by a much more limited

occurrence of macrolichen dominated vegetation, with special reference to Usnea antarctica,

Pseudephebe minuscula and Umbilicaria decussata.

Priority Areas at higher risk along Runway track/pathway and suggestions for the transplant

operations

The analysis of the vegetation relevés carried out within the runway path and their comparison with

the vegetation occurring in the surrounding areas, allowed to select the priority areas for the

mitigation actions focused on biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.

The criteria to select the priority areas were the following:

Areas representative of the vegetation occurring within the runway path;

Areas with communities showing high coverage of the target/dominant species located in a

limited area (in most cases ≤ 1 m2), with very healthy individuals;

Areas with vegetation communities with the characteristics described above and

representing community types rare or with limited distribution/occurrence both within the

runway path as well as in the surrounding areas;

Areas with vegetation characterized by the occurrence of rare species and/or with large

and/or particularly healthy individuals.

The priority areas were selected among all vegetation community types (with the exception of the

Algae community) occurring within the runway path, in order to preserve the natural biodiversity of

the area which will be erased by the runway construction.

Totally 77 priority areas at higher risk have been identified within the runway path (Figure 4.25):

15 patches dominated by Bryum argenteum with Cyanobacteria;

18 patches dominated by Schistidium antarctici with Cyanobacteria;

12 patches dominated by Umbilicaria decussata with Buellia frigida;

7 patches dominated by Pseudephebe minuscula;

5 patches dominated by Usnea antarctica;

3 patches with Buellia frigida and Acarospora gwynnii;

3 patches with Rhizocarpon geographicum, 1 patch with Rhizocarpon geminatum and 1

patch with Caloplaca athallina;

8 patches characterized by high levels of species richness;

4 patches with Cyanobacteria in pure stands


Figure 4.25: Priority areas indicating the vegetation patches selected for the transplant operations finalized to

the mitigation measures

These areas are proposed for the transplant operations in the frame of the mitigation plan, in order

to reduce as much as possible the damage induced by the runway construction to the preservation of

the native flora and vegetation of Boulder Clay. In most cases (54 patches on a total of 77) the size

of each high priority areas was ≤ 1m2 to facilitate their transplant in safe areas.

Areas adjacent/neighbor to the runway suggested for the location of the transplant operations

The safe areas suitable and proposed for the transplant operations were located on the upward side

of the runway, which is leeward and therefore should be more protected from the potential negative

impacts of the pollution associated to the runway activity (and transported by the dominant winds).

The criteria to select the areas suitable to host the transplanted vegetation patches are the following.

The candidate areas need to be characterized by scattered but not absent vegetation, thus providing

ecological indication of the edaphic conditions at the local scale suitable for the location of the

transplanted patches. Moreover, the candidate area need to be characterized by the availability of

physical surfaces enough large to host the transplanted vegetation patches. Their specific location

for each of the 77 priority areas still needs to be defined. The details of these operations will be

defined within the development of the mitigation plan in the future seasons.


Quarry areas

There are six areas (Q1-Q6) which have been identified as potential quarries for the supply of the

lithic materials to be used for the runway construction (see Figure 2.29). These areas have been

surveyed in December 2015 to analyse the patterns of vegetation colonization refer to Figure 4.26).

Quarry 1: it has very scarce and scattered vegetation (mean coverage ≤ 5-10%) composed by

microcrustose epilithic lichens and is almost devoid of vegetation. This is the closest quarry to

the runway area.

Quarry 2: also in this area vegetation is scattered (mean coverage ≤-10%). Vegetation is

composed of two different community types: a) lichen encrusted Schistidium antarctici with

Cyanobacteria; b) macrolichen (Usnea antarctica, Pseudepehebe minuscula) epilithic

vegetation.

Quarry 3: again vegetation here is scattered (mean coverage ≤-10%) and mainly constituted by

epilithic macrolichens with Usnea antarctica as dominant with Umbilicaria decussata and

Pseudephebe minuscula as companion species.

Quarry 4: in this area vegetation coverage is the lowest (with Q1), being less than 5%. The

vegetation is dominated by Schistidium antarctici with epiphytic lichens and Cyanobacteria.

Quarry 5: this area is very similar to quarry 4 but with lower mean vegetation coverage (5-

10%).

Quarry 6: this is the area where vegetation is more developed and which would deserve special

attention. Indeed the vegetation is still discontinuous but with higher mean coverage (20-25%)

and is composed by Schistidium antarctici with Bryum argenteum and B. pseudotriquetrum as

companion species and Cyanobacteria. This is the furthest area from the runway and it will be

used for the runway construction as last choice.

Figure 4.26: Location of the six quarry areas.


4.4. Antarctic protected areas

Up to 1991 the Antarctic Consultative Parties (ATCPs) have adopted five categories of protected

areas :

Specially protected areas (SPAs);

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)

Historic Sites and Monuments (HSMs)

Multiple-use Planning areas (MPAs)

Annex V of the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty rationalizes the

existing protected area designation, and distinguishes more clearly between protected sites and

managing sites. The two new categories have been established:

Antarctic Specially Protected areas (ASPAs);

Antarctic Specially Managed areas (ASMAs);

Entry into an ASPA is prohibited except in accordance with a permit as specified in the Managing

Plan. Entry into an ASMA does not require permits, but activities are directed by a code of conduct

set out in the Management plan.

4.4.1. ASPAs in the Ross Sea region

In the Ross Sea area, in a range of 100 km 4 ASPAs are present (Figure 4.27-A):

ASPA n°173 is located at Cape Washington and Silverfish Bay (centred at 164°57.6'E, 74°37.1'S).

The ASPA, jointly proposed by Italy and United States covers an area of 286 km2, of which 279.5

km2 is marine (98 %) and 6.5 km

2 is terrestrial (2 %). The primary reasons for designation of the

Area are the outstanding ecological and scientific values: one of the largest Emperor Penguin

(Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies in Antarctica breeds on sea ice adjacent to Cape Washington, with

around 20,000 breeding pairs comprising approximately eight percent of the global emperor

population and ~21% of the population in the Ross Sea.

The centre of the protected area is approximately 30 km far from the middle of the airstrip, but the

Emperor Penguins breeding area is more than 40 km far from the activity area.

ASPA n°165 located in Edmonson Point (74°20'S, 165°08'E, 5.49 km2) was proposed by Italy. The

Area includes ice-free ground and a small area of adjacent sea at the foot of the eastern slopes of Mt

Melbourne, which is of limited extent and is the subject of ongoing and long-term scientific

research. The outstanding ecological and scientific value of the Area is related to the terrestrial and

freshwater ecosystem, composed by 2000 pairs of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), 120 pairs

of south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki), >50 Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii), at

least 30 lichen species and high diversity of algal and cyanobacterial species.

The ASPA is located more than 50 km far form the construction site.


ASPA n°161 site, a coastal marine area encompassing 29.4 km2 between Adelie Cove and Campo

Icaro (74º21'S 164º42'E), that is the closest ASPA to Boulder Clay area.

ASPA n°118 site in Mt. Melbourne (2733 m, 74º21'S 164º42'E) was jointly proposed by New

Zealand and Italy on the grounds that these areas contain geothermal soils that support a unique and

diverse biological community. The warmest areas of ground created by fumaroles support patches

of moss, liverwort and algae along with one species of invertebrate protozoan.

The ASPA is located more than 50 km far form the construction site.

4.4.2. ASPA n°161

The proposed runway at Boulder Clay is located about 1,600 m far from the ASPA n°161, while the

alternative site of Campo Antenne is only 500 m far from the beginning of this ASPA. The Figure

4.27: -B shows the marine ASPA n° 161 and the marine/terrestrial ASPA n° 173 along with the

penguin colonies at Cape Washington and Adelie Cove. The ASPA n° 161 is confined to a narrow

strip of waters extending approximately 9.4 km in length immediately to the South of MZS and up

to a maximum of 7 km from the shore. No marine resource harvesting has been, is currently, or is

planned to be, conducted within the Area, nor in the immediate surrounding vicinity. The site

typically remains ice-free in summer, which is rare for coastal areas in the Ross Sea region, making

it an ideal and accessible site for research into the near-shore benthic communities of the region.


Figure 4.27: Map of Terra Nova Bay ASPAs (A) with a detailed map of ASPA n° 161 and ASPA n° 173 (B).


4.5. Air quality monitoring

The presence of synthetic and toxic chemicals in the Antarctic ecosystems is partially associated

with the activities of the scientific stations; nevertheless, the main source of pollutants for this

remote continent is the atmospheric transport. Volatile or semi-volatile contaminants may be

transported to the remote Antarctic continent mainly by air. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

include several groups of chemicals with similar structures and physical–chemical properties that

elicit same toxic effects. All these chemicals are synthetic, ubiquitous, persistent, and hydrophobic,

show long-range transport potency and can be accumulated by organisms.

The POP accumulation and distribution in the Terra Nova Bay trophic webs have been studied since

the 90’s and results were published in peer reviewed international scientific journals [4.48] to

[4.54]. Organisms living in the marine ecosystems of the Terra Nova Bay area have been studied

during a time span of twenty-five years, and some speculations can be done on their health status

from an ecotoxicological point of view. For instance, the profile of PCB contamination in these

organisms is often different from that of other parts of the world including other Antarctic regions

[4.53]. Ice melting is reported as one of the major causes of contamination in polar regions as

contaminants trapped in the ice can be released in the seawater during summer. Because ice melting

occurs at different times in different sites, levels detected in planktonic organisms may vary a lot

depending on the time of collection.

The coasts and seawater of the Terra Nova Bay area are populated by penguins and other flying

seabirds (skuas, petrels) and they have been monitored during the last twenty years as these species

are at risk, being top predators. The highest levels of chemicals were detected in migrating seabirds

(South polar skua) > sub-Antarctic species (snow petrel) > Antarctic species (penguins), suggesting

the bioaccumulation in polluted areas for those birds overwintering in northern ranges [4.54].

Research stations may be sources of local contamination and data related to Mario Zucchelli

(formerly Terra Nova Bay) Station revealed that these scientific base had a low impact on

organisms in the 90’s [4.53]. The release of low amounts of POPs into the surrounding

environments is a normal consequence of scientific stations. The contaminant accumulation and the

lipid characterization were studied in many species of the ASPA n°161, located in the area of MZS

at Terra Nova Bay and levels were low suggesting that their presence in this protected marine area

is due to global transport from other parts of the planet, rather than local sources.

4.5.1. Air quality data at Terra Nova Bay

Monitoring of the air particulate (PM10) has been performed during the last 20 year at Campo Icaro

(as natural background site) and MZS (as polluted area). Available and comparable data for both

sites range from 2000 to date. Several heavy metals have also been analysed, including Cd, Cr, Ni,

Pb, V, Co, Mn.


Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) monitoring (see Table 4.14) has been performed to

evaluate organic pollution related to combustion processes. Relative concentration of PAH and

metals in the atmospheric particulate at Campo Icaro are strictly connected to different sources of

contamination present at MZS:

• power unit system;

• vehicles and aircraft;

• incinerator;

• heating system.

Table 4.12: Considered PAH for the monitoring survey.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Name

Fenantrene PHE

Antracene AN

Fluorantene FA

Pirene PYR

Benzo(a) antracene BaA

Benzo(b+j)fluorantene BbF+BjF

Benzo(k9)fluorantene BKF

Benzo(a)pirene BaP

IndenoPirene IP

Dibenzo(a,h)antracene DBahA

Benzo(ghi)perilene BghiP

The average concentrations of PAH at Campo Icaro, particularly of Fenantrene, Antracene and

Fluorantene, show always values in an order of magnitude lower than the Italian Law for air

contamination regulation and often are under detection levels.

Measured concentrations of PHA and heavy metals generally remain enough similar year by year,

but, depending on wind speed and direction, light differences were observed in different years and

during the same season too.

The average values (pg m-3

) of the total concentration for each individual PAHs at Campo Icaro

between XVI and XVII Antarctic Campaign are reported in Table 4.15. The sum of the average

values for each PAH and sampling period is also shown as histogram in Figure 4.28


Table 4.13: PAH average concentrations (pg m-3).

PAH. EXPEDITION

PHE AN FA PYR BaA CHR BbjF* BaP IP DBahA BghiP

XVI 3,0

1,6 3,4

XVII 1,01 0,12 0,24 0,46 0,12 0,15 0,12 0,05 0.16

2,90

XVIII 1,0 0,2 0,4 0,4 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2

XIX 4,7 0,36 0,2 0,3 0,35 0,8 0,7 0,3 0,4 0,1 0,7

XX 0,9 0,12 0,6 0,83 0,2 0,4 0,4 0,2 0,28 0,17 0,40

XXI 1,7 0,2 0,5 1,7 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,12 0,17

0.38

XXII 3,7 0,1 0,25 1,50 0,24 0,28 1,15 0,19 0,94 0,10 1,28

XXV 2,0 0,23 1,1 2,4 0,3 1.0 1,3 0,2 0,2 0,2 1,3

XXVI 2,0 0,8 1,3 2,8 0,1 0,9 1,2 0,29 0,6

0,8

XXVII 1,6 1,0 1,8 3,6 0,23 1,1 0,4 1,0 0,2 0,22 0,6

* = Sum of BbjF e BkF

The histogram in Figure 4.28 shows values of PAHs at Campo Icaro near the detection limit with

minor changes in the years.

Figure 4.28: Average values of the total PAHs considered at Campo Icaro, for each Expedition.

The average values of concentrations for individual sampling periods (72 hours) do not exceed 12

pg m-3

, the point values being always under 10 pg m-3 mainly for phenanthrene, fluoranthene and

pyrene. These values are in line with typical values relating to remote areas that, as reported in the

literature, range likely from the detection limit for the method used up to a few hundred pg m-3

.


Observations at Campo Icaro often resulted below the detection limit of the adopted method of

measure (on average about 0.1 pg m-3

), especially for anthracene, indeno [1,2 , 3-c, d] pyrene,

benzo [a] pyrene and dibenzo [a, h] anthracene. This result means that the location of Campo Icaro

is not affected by the contamination from MZS and that the long-range transport from remote

industrialized areas is negligible.

For comparison in Figure 4.29 a similar histogram of total PAHs of Fig. 4.25 is reported, but for

MZS site. As expected the values in MZS are almost 2 order of magnitude larger than in Campo

Icaro. Anyway they are always well below the maximum Italian regulation values.

Figure 4.29: Average values of total PAHs considered at MZS, for each Expedition.

The seasonally averaged concentrations of each measured PAH (not shown), for any campaign a

similar behaviour shows up, with relative higher concentrations of PYR, BbjF, IP and BghiP

constantly present during the summer season.

Heavy metal concentrations were calculated using standard tests with certified values. Often the

data are below the detection limit of the method for both MZS (Table 4.16) and Campo Icaro (Table

4.17). The data are reported in ng/m3

Metals concentrations at MZS site, show sometimes quite high values, mainly copper and lead.

As for PAHs, heavy metal concentrations result much higher at MZS than at Campo Icaro site,

because of the proximity to the pollution sources.

The data however confirm that the Antarctic environment is a relatively untouched, highlighting the

absence of significant contamination produced by scientific and logistic activities in the area of

Terra Nova Bay.

0,0

50,0

100,0

150,0

200,0

250,0

300,0

350,0

400,0

450,0

XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXV XXVI XXVII

pg/

m3

Expeditions


Table 4.14: Heavy metal concentrations at MZS, ng/m3.

Expedition Cd As Cr Cu Mn Ni Pb V

XVII 0.016 0.015 nd 10.8 nd 0,6 0.5

XIX 0.020 0.01 nd 0.41 nd nd 0.18

XX 0.026 nd 0.96 24.2 nd 0.25 0.3 0.4

XXI 0.019 0.026 nd 10.5 nd 0.27 0.25 0.21

XXV 0.043 nd nd 13.9 1.48 0.19 0.19 0.23

XXVI 0.049 nd nd 12.3 1.45 0.15 0.16 0.2

XXVII 0.014 nd nd nd 1.27 0.17 0.18 0.19

Table 4.15: Heavy metal concentrations at Campo Icaro, ng/m3.

Expedition Cd As Cr Cu Mn Ni Pb V

XX 0.08 0.59 0.134 nd 0.145 0.094 0.022

XXI 0.002 0.012 nd 0.84 nd 0.144 0.086 0.021

XXII 0.002 0.011 nd 0.32 nd 0.150 0.082 0.015

XXV 0.003 nd nd 0.88 0.09 0.02 0.024 0.008

XXVI 0.0017 nd nd 0.95 0.15 0.03 0.064 0.025

XXVII 0.0019 nd nd 0.43 0.07 0.05 0.027 0.011

It is unlikely that the main sources of pollution (incinerators, vehicles and aircraft, heating system)

give the most significant contribution to the total concentration of PAHs, due to the low number of

means available and/or their limited use in time. It is reasonable to assume that the main

contribution to the emission of PAHs comes from power unit system running continuously

throughout the whole summer season.

Looking at the local circulation, the data suggest that, in accordance with the direction of the

prevailing wind and the geographical location of the Base, the sea of Terra Nova Bay would be the

main receptor affected by environmental contamination of PAHs and of particulate on the assets of

the Italian station.


4.6. Research activities

4.6.1. Scientific activities and long-term monitoring on permafrost and active

layer at Boulder Clay

As anticipated above, the runway will include also a large part of the long-term monitoring site

“Boulder Clay CALM grid” (Figure 4.30). This is one of the longest-term monitoring areas in

continental Antarctica for the assessment of climate change impacts on ecosystems and on their

associated physical environment (in particular cryosphere).

Continental Antarctica represents the last pristine environment on Earth and is one of the most

suitable contexts to analyse the relations between climate, active layer and vegetation. Moreover,

high latitude areas of both hemispheres are expected to be highly sensitive to the impacts of climate

change. There is a shortage of data available on vegetation long-term changes in continental

Antarctica (e.g. Brabyn [4.55] for Cape Hallett, Melick & Seppelt [4.56] for Wilkes Land).

Figure 4.30: Location of the runway respect to the CALM grid

and indication of the part of the CALM grid which will be destroyed by the runway.

In 2000 started the long-term monitoring of the climate, permafrost, active layer and vegetation in

Victoria Land. This activity has been established in the frame of international panels, with special

reference to the SCAR project RiSCC (Regional Sensitivity to Climate Change in Antarctic


terrestrial and limnetic ecosystems), then prosecuted as EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity in

Antarctica), and to the Latitudinal Gradient Project (LGP).

Moreover, this site is part of a monitoring network extended along a latitude gradient from Cape

Hallett (72°76'S, 169°56'E) to Finger Point (77°35'S, 163°20'E) [4.47], with two plots which were

installed at Boulder Clay since 2001/2002. These plots were located within the CALM grid for the

long term monitoring of permafrost and active layer thickness installed at this site since 1999. The

first permanent plot (PP10) was on loose morainic deposits colonised by scattered bryophytes

(Bryum subrotundifolium, Schistidium antarctici) with terricolous and epiphytic lichens (Lecidella

siplei). The second permanent plot (PP11) was in epilithic vegetation (Umbilicaria decussata,

Usnea sphacelata, Buellia frigida, Pseudephebe minuscula) on the pebbles, large boulders and

outcropping bedrock that were widespread in this proglacial area.

A detailed description of the vegetation (on 50 x 50 cm plots) occurring at each of the 121 nodes of

the Boulder Clay CALM grid (100 x 100 m) was carried out in 2001/2002 (on 121 nodes) and

repeated in 2012/2013 (on 25 nodes, due to logistical and time constraints) [4.23]. The vegetation of

the boulder clay CALM grid was composed exclusively of cryptogams (bryophytes; epilithic,

epiphytic and ubiquitous lichens; cyanobacteria and algae), occurring in discontinuous and scattered

patches. According to the survey carried out in 2002, almost all of the 121 nodes of the CALM grid

were characterized by the occurrence of communities dominated by bryophytes with epiphytic

lichens and cyanobacteria colonizing the sediments with finer grain size, coupled with communities

dominated by epilithic lichens, mainly occurring on pebbles and blocks. In 2002 the dominant

bryophyte species were Schistidium antarctici, followed by Bryum argenteum, while other species

such as Syntrichia sarconeurum and Ceratodon purpureus occurred only sporadically across the

grid. Several epiphytic lichens were associated with Schistidium antarctici and other bryophyte

species, such as Buellia grimmiae, B. papillata, Candelariella flava and Lepraria spp.

Cyanobacteria occurred both associated with the bryophyte dominated communities, as well as

alone as crusts on the finer sediments. The epilithic communities were mainly composed of crustose

lichens (dominated by the placodioid Buellia frigida), but included also foliose (mainly Umbilicaria

decussata) and fruticose lichens (Usnea antartica).

In the period 2002-2013, analysing the vegetation changes in the selected 25 nodes of the CALM

grid, there was a generalized decline of vegetation, both for the total coverage and for the coverage

of the main groups of cryptogams (bryophytes, cyanobacteria), with the exception of lichens [4.23].

The spatial distribution of vegetation within the selected 25 CALM grid nodes showed that the

vegetated areas almost coincided between 2002 and 2013 and that their coverage accounted

decreases of bryophytes (and cyanobacteria) and increases of lichens. The multivariate analyses

emphasized that the floristic composition of vegetation changed slightly comparing 2002 and 2013,

with two main groups of species: (a) the community dominated by Schistidium antartici is

preferentially associated with sites with less snow cover, higher topographic position, thicker active


layer and higher ground temperature, (b) the communities of epilithic lichens (Buellia frigida,

Umbilicaria decussata), are mainly associated with the availability of blocks, larger snow

accumulation and thinner active layer. The community dominated by Bryum argenteum and

epiphytic lichens showed wider ecological requirements. The shift between the 2002 and 2012 sites

emphasized that in the 10year period the vegetation changed and that, in most cases, these changes

depended on the decrease of coverage of one or more species, while the floristic composition within

the plots remained relatively stable.

The decline of bryophytes can be related to the active layer thickening, increasing solar radiation

and decrease of ground water availability. Indeed, only the xeric Schistidium antarctici persisted in

this site, while the other bryophyte species in most cases declined since 2002. Conversely, the

epilithic lichens increased slightly because they are mainly located on blocks in sites were the

drifted snow accumulates, providing water supply independently of the active layer thickness

changes/dynamics.

Compared with other high latitude areas, Continental Antarctica provides a unique opportunity to

assess the natural dynamics and responses of cryptogams to climate change and provides significant

advantages: a) in continental Antarctica vegetation dynamics are not subject to the disturbance

effect due to the competition with vascular plants (such as in maritime Antarctica and in the Arctic),

as well as b) the impact of grazing (such as in the Arctic), or c) of fur seals and animal disturbance

(such as in maritime Antarctica [4.57] [4.58]).

The runway construction will imply the destruction of almost half of the CALM grid and the loss of

data for future monitoring.

4.6.2. Research activities in ASPA n°161

In the face of the Northern Foothills, along the coast is the marine protected area of Adelie Cove

(ASPA n°161). It submits for 7 km offshore and 9 km along the coast towards the Mario Zucchelli

Station. ASPA n°161 is an important littoral area for well-established and long-term scientific

investigations.

The shelf area of Terra Nova Bay is one of the few temporary ice free areas in the Ross Sea and

presents peculiar ecological features, showing a higher productivity in biomass of phytoplankton,

particulate matter and abundance in zooplankton compared to other areas of the Victoria Land

coast, and hosting a benthic community characterized by a remarkable species richness.

Research activities were carried out in the area during the austral summers since the nineties.

Human disturbances can be induced by a variety of research activities, but the impact on lichens

and mosses is almost negligible given their locations and densities of distribution. In addition, the

impact on skua and Adélie penguin habitats will be indirect and minor during the operation of the

runway because the colonies are located at a safe distance from the proposed site.


4.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

4.1 Baroni C. (1987) – Geomorphological map of the Northern Foothills near the Italian station (Terra

Nova Bay, Antarctica). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 195-212.

4.2 Skinner D.N.B. (1972) – Differentiation source for the mafic and ultramafic rocks (“enstatite

peridotites”) and some porphyritic granites of Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land. In: Adie R.J. (ed.).

Antarctic Geology and Geophysics. Universitetsforlaget: pp. 299-303. Oslo.

4.3 Skinner D.N.B. (1983a) – The geology of Terra Nova Bay. In: Olivier R.L., Iames P.R. & Jago J.B.

(eds). Antarctic Earth Science. Australian Academy of Science, pp. 150-155, Canberra.

4.4 Skinner D.N.B. (1983b) – Terra Nova Bay geological expedition III. NZARP 1982-83. New

Zealand Geological Survey, Department of Scientific and industrial Research, DS87, G72, 40 pp.

4.5 Carmignani L., Ghezzo C., Gosso G., Lombardo B., Meccheri M., Montrasio A., Pertusati P.C.,

Salvini F. (1988) – Geological map of the area between Davis and Mariner Glacier. Victoria Land

Antarctica. Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide. ENEA-CNR.

4.6 Rocchi S., Di Vincenzo G., Ghezzo C. (2004) – The Terra Nova Intrusive Complex, Victoria Land,

Antarctica (with 1:50,000 geopetrographic map). Terra Antartica Reports, 10: 51 pp.

4.7 Carmignani L., Gosso G., Lombardo B., Montrasio A., Pertusati P.C., Salvini F. – Geological

observation in central Victoria Land (Antarctica). Abstract. ,5thInt.Symp. Antarctic Earth,

Sciences. Cambridge, August 1987.

4.8 Baroni C., Orombelli G. (1987) – Glacial geology and geomorphology of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria

Land, Antarctica). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 171-194.

4.9 Guglielmin M., Biasini A. & Smiraglia C. (1997) – Buried ice landforms in the Northern Foothills

(Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). Some results from electrical soundings. Geographiska

Annaler, 79a, 1-2, 17-24.

4.10 French H.M., Guglielmin M. (1999) – Observations on the icemarginal periglacial geomorphology

of Terra Nova Bay, Northern Victoria land, Antarctica. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 10:

331-348.

4.11 French H.M., Guglielmin M. (2000) – Frozen ground phenomena in the vicinity of Terra Nova

Bay, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica: a preliminary report. Geografiska Annaler 82A: 513–526.

4.12 Washburn A.L. (1979) – Geocryology. A Survey of Periglacial Processes and Environments.

Edwards Arnold, London.

4.13 Chinn T.J.H., Whitehouse I.E., Hofle H.C. (1989) – Report on a reconnaissance of the glaciers of

Terra Nova Bay area. German Antartic North Victoria Land Expedition 1984/85, GANOVEX IV.

4.14 Lozej A., Tabacco I., Meneghel M., Orombelli G., Smiraglia C., Longinelli A. (1989) – Radio-echo

sounding of Enigma Lake (nothern Foothills, Victoria Land, Antarctica). Memorie della Società

Geologica Italiana, 46, 1989, pp. 103-115.

https://library.niwa.co.nz/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=139750&query_desc=an%3A24450%20and%20au%3AChinn%2C%20T.J.H.

https://library.niwa.co.nz/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=139750&query_desc=an%3A24450%20and%20au%3AChinn%2C%20T.J.H.


4.15 Orombelli G., Baroni C., Denton G.H., (1990) – Late cenozoic glacial history of the Terra Nova

Bay Region, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geogr. Fis. Dinam. Quat. 13, pp. 139-163.

4.16 van Everdingen R.O., (1976) – Geocryological terminology. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences,

Vol. 13, No. 6, pp.862-867.

4.17 van Everdingen, R.O. (Ed.) (1994) – Multi-Language Glossary of Permafrost and Related Ground-

Ice Terms. International Permafrost Association, The University of Calgary Printing Services,

Calgary, Canada, 311 pp.

4.18 Abramovich R.S., Pomati F., Jungblut A.D., Guglielmin M., Neilan B.A. (2012) – T-RFLP

Fingerprint Analysis of bacterial Communities in Debris Cones, Northern Victoria Land,

Antarctica. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 23, pp. 244-248.

4.19 Guglielmin M., Lewkovicz A.G, French M.F., Strini A.(2009) – Lake-ice blisters, Terra Nova Bay

Area, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geogr. Ann., 91 A (2), pp. 99-111.

4.20 Nelson F.E., Shiklomanov N.I., Christiansen H.H., Hinkel K.M. (2004a) – The circumpolar-active-

layer monitoring (CALM) Workshop. Introduction. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 15: 99-

101.

4.21 Nelson F.E., Shiklomanov N.I., Hinkel K.M, Christiansen H.H. (2004b) – The Circumpolar Active

Layer Monitoring (CALM) Workshop and the CALM II Program: Introduction. Polar Geography,

28( 4): 253-266.

4.22 Guglielmin M. 2006 – Ground Surface Temperature (GST), Active Layer and Permafrost

monitoring in Continental Antarctica. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 17: 133-143.

4.23 Guglielmin M., Dalle Fratte M., Cannone N. (2014) – Permafrost warming and vegetation changes

in continental Antarctica. Environ. Res. Lett. 9.

4.24 D. Fontaneto - Oral Communication (2014)

4.25 Turner, J., S. Pendlebury (Eds.) (2004) – The International Antarctic Weather Forecasting

Handbook. British Antarctic Survey, 663 pp.

4.26 King, J.C., and Turner J. (1997) – Antarctic Meteorology and Climatology. Cambridge University

Press, 409 pp.

4.27 Schwerdtfeger, W. (1984) – Weather and Climate of the Antarctic, Developments in Atmospheric

Science. Elsevier Science Publishing Company Inc., 261 pp.

4.28 ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), (2005, AMD 2 (February 2011)). Manual on

Low-level Wind Shear (DOC 9817). ICAO, 105 pp.

4.29 Piccardi, G., Udisti R., Casella F. (1994) – Seasonal trends and chemical composition of snow at

Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica). International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 55:

219-234.

4.30 Franceschi A., 2012. Aspetti della biologia riproduttiva e dell'ecologia di popolazione dello

stercorario di McCormick (Stercorarius maccormicki) nella Terra Vittoria, Antartide. Unpublished

PhDThesis. University of Siena.


4.31 Ainley D.G., Morrell S.H., Wood R.C., 1986. South polar skua breeding colonies in the Ross Sea

region, Antarctica. Notornis 33: 155-163.

4.32 Lauriano G, Fortuna MC, Vacchi M 2011. Occurrence of killer whales (Orcinus orca) and other

cetaceansin Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica.Antarctic Science 23(2), 139–143.

4.33 Baroni C., Lorenzini S., Salvatore M. C., Olmastroni S. (2007) – Adélie penguins colonization

history and paleodiet trends document Holocene environmental changes in Victoria Land

(Antarctica). U.S. Geological Survey and The National Academies, USGS OF-2007-1047,

Extended Abstract 108.

4.34 Lorenzini S, Olmastroni S, Pezzo F, Salvatore MC, Baroni C 2009. Holocene Adeélie penguin diet

in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Polar Biology 32:1077–1086.

4.35 Lyver PO, Barron M, Barton KJ, Ainley DG, Pollard A, et al. 2014. Trends in the Breeding

Population of Ade´ lie Penguins in the Ross Sea, 1981–2012: A Coincidence of Climate and

Resource Extraction Effects. PLoS ONE 9(3): e91188.

4.36 Harper P.C., Knox G.A., Spurr E.B., Taylor R.H., Wilson G.J., Yong E.C. (1984) – The status and

conservation birds in the Ross sea sector of Antarctica (160° E to 150°W) ICBP Technical series.

4.37 Ainley D.G., Clarke E.D., Arrigo K., Fraser W.R., Kato A. (2005) – Decadal-scale changes in the

climate and biota of the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, 1950s to the 1990s. Antarct Sci 17,

pp. 171–182.

4.38 Ainley D.G. (2002) – The Adélie penguin: bellwether of climate change. New York: Columbia

University Press. 310 pp.

4.39 Harris C. (2005) – Aircraft operations near concentrations of birds in Antarctica: The development

of practical guidelines. Biological Conservation 125, pp. 309–322.

4.40 Hughes K., Waluda C., Stone R., Ridout M., Shears J. (2008) – Short-term responses of king

penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus to helicopter disturbance at South Georgia. Polar Biology 31,

pp. 1521-1530.

4.41 Taylor R.H., Wilson P.R. (1990) – Recent increase and southern expansion of Adélie penguin

populations in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, related to climate warming. New Zealand Journal of

Ecology 14, pp. 25-29.

4.42 Castello M., Nimis P.L. 2000. A key to the lichens of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land, continental

Antarctica). Italian Journal of Zoology, Sup. 1, 175–184.

4.43 Cannone N., Seppelt R. 2009. A preliminary floristic classification of Northern and Southern

Victoria Land vegetation (Continental Antarctica). Antarctic Science, 20: 553-62.

4.44 Castello M. 2003. Lichens of the Terra Nova Bay area, northern Victoria Land. Studia

Geobotanica, 22, 3–59

4.45 Ochyra R, Smith RIL, Bednarek-Ochyra H (2008) The illustrated moss flora of Antarctica.

Cambridge University press, Cambridge, p 685.


4.46 Cannone N, Convey P & Guglielmin M. 2013. Diversity trends of bryophyties in continental

Antarctica. Polar Biology, 36: 259-271.

4.47 Cannone N. 2006. A network for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems along a latitudinal gradient in

Continental Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 18(4): 549-560.

4.48 Bacci E., Calamari D., Gaggi C., Fanelli R., Focardi S., Morosini M. (1986) – Chlorinated

hydrocarbons in lichen and moss samples from the Antarctic Peninsula, Chemosphere,15,747-754.

4.49 Focardi S., Fossi M.C., Lari L., Casini S., Leonzio C., Meidel S.K., Nigro M. (1995) – Induction of

MFO Activity in the Antarctic fish Pagothenia bernacchii: Preliminary results. Marine

Environmental Research., 39: 97-100.

4.50 Corsolini S., Focardi S. (2000) – Bioconcentration of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Pelagic

Food Chain of the Ross Sea. In: Ross Sea Ecology, F. Faranda, L. Guglielmo and A. Ianora Eds.,

Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2000. pp. 575-584.

4.51 Corsolini S., Kannan K., Imagawa T., Focardi S., Giesy J.P. (2002) – Polychloronaphthalenes and

other dioxin-like compounds in Arctic and Antarctic marine food webs. Environmental Science and

Technology, 36: 3490-3496.

4.52 Borghesi N., Corsolini S., Focardi S. (2008) – Levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

and organochlorine pollutants in two species of Antarctic fish (Chionodraco hamatus and

Trematomus bernacchii). Chemosphere, 73, pp. 155–160.

4.53 Corsolini S. (2009) – Industrial contaminants in Antarctic biota. Journal of Chromatography A,

1216, 598–612.

4.54 Corsolini S. Borghesi N., Ademolo N., Focardi S. (2011) – Chlorinated biphenyls and pesticides in

migrating and resident seabirds from East and West Antarctica. Environment International 37(8):

1329-1335.

4.55 Brabyn L., Green A., Beard C., Seppelt R. 2005. GIS goes nano: vegetation studies in Victoria

Land, Antarctica. New Zealand Geographer, 61: 139–147.

4.56 Melick D.R., Seppelt R.D. 1997. Vegetation patterns in relation to climatic and endogenous

changes in Wilkes Land, continental Antarctica Journal of Ecology, 85: 43-56.

4.57 Favero-Longo S., Cannone N., Worland MR, Convey O., Piervittori R., Guglielmmin M. 2011.

Changes in lichen diversity and community structure with fur seal population increase on Signy

Island, South Orkney Islands. Antarctic Science, 23: 65-77 .

4.58 Cannone N., Guglielmin M., Convey P, Worland M.R., Favero Longo S.E. (2015 on-line, 2016 in

press). Vascular plant changes in extreme environments: effects of multiple drivers. Climatic

Change, first published online on 7th November 2015, doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1551-7015-1551-7

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1551-7


5. Identification and Prediction of Environmental

Impact, Assessment and Mitigation Measures of the

Proposed Activities

The runway construction and aircraft operation include activities that impact directly or indirectly

on the environment.

An Environmental Impact Assessment comprises three major phases: analysis of proposed

activities, prediction and assessment of the impacts, and suggestion for mitigation measures and

following monitoring and verification. This draft CEE for the construction and operation of a gravel

runway at Boulder Clay, Victoria Land, Antarctica, is prepared according to this process.

5.1. Environmental impact identification, prediction and assessment

The direct environmental impact on ice, snow, air, ecosystem and other environmental receptors

will be caused by the activities as construction, operation and decommissioning of the gravel

runway, emission of exhausted gas and oil spilling, waste production, noise from vehicles and

personnel and influence from the interference of visitors.

5.1.1. Estimation on fuel consumption

Fuels to be used during the construction and operation at the station include:

Aviation Kerosene JA1 (helicopter, aircraft, and diesel vehicles)

Lubricating oil and hydraulic oil (mechanical equipment and vehicles)

The atmospheric emission during the construction period will mainly arise from the consumption of

fuels used for vehicle's operation and power supply. Aircrafts and ship emissions are here taken in

account, but they will be spread over a wide area en route to and within Antarctica. The emissions

from these sources will be rapidly dispersed and will not affect ambient air quality, but will

contribute to the cumulative impact of operations in Antarctica.

Fuel consumption for construction

The construction will last four years and the fuel consumption will be due to: 1) power generation,

2) operating machines (excavator, wheel loader, tracked loader, dozer, dumper, grader, roller

compactor), 3) motor vehicles.

During construction the use of the operating machines won’t be constant in time, but it will depend

on the working phase. Fuel consumption will vary accordingly.

Table 5.1 reports the fuel consumption per construction phase.


Table 5.1: Estimated fuel consumption required during construction of the runway (tons).

Source Fuel type Phase 1

(ton)

Phase 2

(ton)

Phase 3

(ton)

Phase 4

(ton)

Apron

(ton)

Total fuel

consumption

(ton)

Generator

(for camps

and facilities)

JA1 +

additive 9 8 17 5 7 46

Costruction

equipment

and vehicles

JA1 +

additive 93 76 177 48 72 482

Fuel consumption for operation

The designed time-life of the runway is 20 years. Structural design of the airstrip considered 30

flights/year, but the PNRA foreseen average needs will not exceed 15 flights/year as presented in

Paragraph 2.6, even though the facility could also work as a hub for other Research Program in the

Ross Sea Region. The impact on environment related to the fuel handling would be in any case

reduced due to the minor number of fights performed each season respect to the designed number of

flights for the airstrip and with a well-proven procedure applied during the aircraft refuelling phase.

The overall time for all these phases (taxing, approaching/climbing, take-off/landing) can be

considered an half hour, with an aircraft fuel flow rate of 2,600 l/h (density 0.8 kg/litre for Jet A-1

(JA1)).

Table 5.2: Estimated fuel consumption during operation of the gravel runway (tons)

for the designed situation (30 flights/year).

Source Fuel type

Fuel consumption

per round trip flight

(ton)

Total fuel

consumption per

season (ton)

Aircraft JA1 29 870

Generators

(used for terminal and facilities) JA1 + additives 0.10 3

Vehicles JA1 + additives 0.2 6

Table 5.2 presents the total amount of fuel consumed in the round trip flight, in case of the

structural design conditions (30 flights/year), that will be almost double than the realistic plans for

the facility operation. Data represent almost the overall fuel consumptions, being those related to

vehicles active during approaching and landing operations, or the terminal power generator,

negligible compared to the aircraft fuel consumption.

Source


It should be noted that only less than a half of the total amount of JA1 consumption reported in

Table 5.2 basically will be refuelled in Antarctica.

Assessment of the atmospheric emissions impact

Impact on air will depend on several factors as the weather condition, and the time for fuel transport

or construction material. The considered window time of construction will be 4 austral summer

seasons. The most part of construction material will be taken from the ground around, worked with

riddles and moved by mechanical shovels and trucks. If necessary, part of the material will be

obtained blasting granite bedrock available in the nearby area. During construction, there will be

more human and vehicle activities and the corresponding atmospheric emission will be higher than

the operational routine.

Substances derived from fuel combustion are: carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and

particulates etc. These substances will cause some impact on air quality. However, generally

speaking, the impact is small. Emissions during the construction are the more environmental costly,

while, instead, during operation phase, only a small part of the aircraft combusted fuel can reach the

soil. Therefore, the emitted pollutants will spread to a very low concentration condition The main

natural mitigation factor is the wind that will mainly spread in east direction the exhausts, avoiding

in maximal part the penguin (and skua) colony direction. Sporadic likens in the area could be used

as test to evaluate the accumulation respect time of organic pollutants and metals.

The estimated impact includes those on the snow and ice surface of the runway area. This kind of

pollution may affect part of the scientific value of the area. The particulates may exist in the snow

and ice for a long time.

The pollutants will accumulate, and some emitted gas will affect the atmospheric environment of

the area. CO will stay in the air for about 1 month, and will finally change to CO2.

CO2 is the product of maximum quantity in the combustion process. It will not directly affect

human's health. However, as a greenhouse gas it will obstruct heat spreading from the earth into the

atmosphere, thus having the possibility of warming up the earth.

Estimated atmospheric emissions in the construction stage

The construction stage will cover four austral summers, and each construction stage will last for

approximately 3.5 months. During the austral summers from 2016 through 2019 it is estimated that

each year 75-160 tons of JA1 fuel will be needed for construction equipment. The total annual

emissions of various pollutants in each year during the construction will be as shown in Table 5.3.

Emission factors reported in the table are derived from technical documentation provided by

manufactures of vehicles.


Table 5.3: Estimated total annual emission during construction of the gravel runway (tons).

Source Fuel

Type

Phase 1

(ton)

Phase 2

(ton)

Phase 3

(ton)

Phase 4

(ton)

Apron

(ton)

Emission

Pollutants

Emission

factor

(ton/ton)

1°year

Emission

(ton)

2°year

Emission

(ton)

3°year

Emission

(ton)

4°year

Emission

(ton)

Apron

(ton) Tot (ton)

Generator

JA1 +

additives

9 8 17 5 7

CO 0.009 0.008 0.017 0.005 0.007 0.047 0.009

NOx 0.1323 0.1176 0.2499 0.0735 0.1029 0.6909 0.1323

SO2 0.0081 0.0072 0.0153 0.0045 0.0063 0.0423 0.0081

PM10 0.0117 0.0104 0.0221 0.0065 0.0091 0.0611 0.0117

CO2 5.526 4.912 10.438 3.07 4.298 28.858 5.526

Costruction

equipment

and vehicles

JA1 +

additives 93 76 177 48 72

CO 0.0010 0.093 0.076 0.177 0.048 0.072 0.466

NOx 0.0147 1.3671 1.1172 2.6019 0.7056 1.0584 6.8502

SO2 0.0009 0.0837 0.0684 0.1593 0.0432 0.0648 0.4194

PM10 0.0013 0.1209 0.0988 0.2301 0.0624 0.0936 0.6058

CO2 0.6140 57.102 46.664 108.678 29.472 44.208 286.124


Estimated atmospheric emission in the operation stage

During the operation stage there will be an almost constant fuel consumption and, then, constant

emission. Table 5.4 shows these data, making use of the emission factor reported by Starik [5.1].

Table 5.4: Estimated total annual emission (15 flight/year) during operation of the gravel runway (tons) [5.1]

Source Fuel Type yearly

consumption (ton)

Emission

Pollutants

Emission

factor(ton/ton)

yearly

emission (ton)

Aircraft JA1 435

CO 0.0113* 4.9155

NOx 0.0292* 12.702

SO2 0.0008* 0.348

PM10 0.0011 0.4785

CO2 0.859 373,665

As reported in the above Fuel Consumption Paragraph, although the runway has been designed for

an activity of 30 flights/year, the PNRA foreseen average needs will not exceed 15 intercontinental

flights/year, as reported in Paragraph 2.6.

The impact due to the aircraft’s exhausted at the Boulder Clay area, is considered to be negligible

since aircraft exhausts will be spread on a wide area. This dilution will reduce the emission impact

on the environment, keeping the hazardous combustion products (CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, PM10)

orders of magnitude below limits reported in the Italian guidelines.

5.1.2. Evaluation of noise emission

Noise will be generated from landing, taxing, ground handling and taking-off operations of the

aircraft and during the construction activities from the vehicles involved in the embankment

preparation.

Levels of noise during the construction of the embankment have been estimated and appear

significantly lower than the aircraft noise during take-off, with the exception for blasting activities.

As reported in Paragraph 2.4.4 explosives use will be reduced as much as possible and blasting

activity areas are likely located at enough distance from Adelie Cove:

Apron (3.7 km from Adelie Cove)

Ridge at 1450 m North of the runway threshold (2.5 km from Adelie Cove)

The potential noise propagation during airplane take-off were estimated assuming the worst

conditions on the field: take-off of the airplane from the head of the airstrip (i.e. the closest point to

the Adelie Cove) and noise propagation at low frequency (low frequencies propagate in air farther


than high frequencies). Moreover calculations were performed at 125 Hz, a band where the highest

intensity peak for Hercules L100/30 engine are recorded.

The model used for the simulation is SPreAD-GIS, a GIS tool specifically developed by the

Colorado State University [5.2] for modelling anthropogenic noise propagation in natural

ecosystems. The noise input value at take-off was assumed from the “RAF - C130 Noise

Assessment Technical Report” [5.3], while seasonal averages of temperature, relative humidity and

prevailing wind speed/direction, as observed in summer by the closest AWS meteorological station

(K3, see Figure 4.14), were used as input values for the propagation model.

Table 5.5: Boundary condition applied for noise level prediction during the aircraft take off procedure.

Boundary condition

Source noise Hercules L100/30

Noise pressure (dB(A)) 100 (measured at 50 m.) [5.3]

Simulation frequency (Hz) 125

Wind direction (°) 270° (West)

Wind speed (knots) 10

Temperature (°C) -5

Relative humidity (RH %) 50

Natural noise (dB(A)) 20

The noise level estimated by the model in correspondence of the Adelie Cove colony is just above

35 dB(A) overall the natural noise level in the colony, evaluated in 20 dB at 125 Hz frequency

(Figure 5.1).


Figure 5.1: Estimated noise level over natural noise condition (20 dB(A)) at 125 Hz, during

full engine power of Hercules L100/30, in take-off procedure.


5.1.3. Oil spill

Various fuels and lubricants will be used during the construction and operation of the runway. Fuel

and oil spills may occur during the processes of construction and equipment, and fuel transfer

procedures between transit and fuel tanks. Fuel spills (JA1 or gasoline spilt) may also occur during

refuelling aircraft, vehicles and generators. We are considering here only episodes connected with

normal operation. Risk arising from severe events, like damaged fuel tanks, are classified as risk

being not expected at all in normal operations.

5.1.4. Impact on snow and ice

Since most construction of the runway will be set up on the ground without snow in summer, the

environmental impact on snow and ice resulting from the construction will be limited.

The exhausted gas arising from all the activities could in any case reach the snow area. However, it

is in a small amount and only due to the stable west-east wind direction, blowing in the direction of

the open sea.

5.1.5. Impact on ecosystem

Impact on flora

The construction of the runway will impact significantly exclusively on about 0.15 km2 of the

Boulder Clay moraine interested by the embankment construction and not more than 0.25 km2 from

few quarries highlighted in Figure 2.29.

The flora, most of which are lichens and few mosses, is sporadic with a low distribution density and

a coverage degree of less than 5% in average nearby the proposed site of the runways and quarries

[4.23]. In any case the impact has been evaluated in term of medium/high level of disturbance,

because they are expected to be partially destroyed during the construction of the runway,

especially during earthmoving work. An in-depth study and assessment on the potential impact on

the flora is being prepared and measure of mitigation will be sought for and implemented.

Impact on Adélie penguins and skuas

The construction and operation of the proposed runway may slightly affect the surrounding

ecosystem. Main disturbance sources foreseen in this study are noise and pollution generated during

construction and operation phases, but both have been evaluated only to impact marginally on the

local fauna.

The air pollution generated from construction and operation of the runway has been estimated of

minor impact on the ecosystem, but to assess a real time evaluation of the air quality, an air sampler

will be installed considering the prevalent wind direction respect the site.


The colony of Adélie penguins and the skuas located at Adelie Cove will not be directly disturbed

by the construction and operation of the runway but indirect impacts are expected. The shortest

distance between the colony and the site is approximately 1.8 km and the difference in elevation

between colony and runway is about 70 meters.

A noise generated level has been simulated by a model, for the worst condition, consisting in the

aircraft take-off phase, but less than 35 dB(A) has been expected in the colony area.

The heavy equipment operation during construction will produce significantly less noise and will be

located most of the time at a higher distance (from 4 to 5 km), thus this phase will not provide

significant impact on the colony.

The approach and the take-off ways are defined in consideration of CEP guidelines for operation of

aircraft near concentration of birds in Antarctica, reported in Annex to Resolution 2 (2004):

Flight altitude on bird colonies higher than 2,000 ft;

Landing site with a linear distance greater than ½ nautical mile;

No planned passing over wild life concentration areas;

Maintaining a vertical separation from the coastline of 2,000 ft where possible.

In the map reported in Figure 5.2, planned flight routes of operative landing/taking off (green line)

and of emergency missed approach instrumental procedure (red line) are reported, over layered with

bird colonies and ASPA 161/173 borders. The most close point interested by the operative landing

of the aircraft is the South end of the runway, placed 1,8 km far from the Adelie Cove community.

In exceptional event of missed approach non-instrumental procedure, for safety reasons the aircraft

will overflight he colony at an altitude higher than 600 ft. A statistical comparison of the casuistry

recorded for the fast ice runway used in early stage of the summer season, from 1989 to present, at

MZS, has been performed, considering the similar orientation, position and weather condition of the

2 strips. In a conservative amount of 200 landing performed in the fast ice runway in 25 years, the

missed approach procedure has never been applied.

In the light of the above, this particular emergency event is likely to happen less than once every 5

years assuming 30 flights per season.

However a monitoring program on penguins and skuas population, for assessing the effective stress

degree caused by the runway construction and operation activities, will be implemented and

immediate measures to mitigate the effects will be accordingly taken.

Impact on other wildlife species

Leopard Seals are rarely found swimming throughout the Adelie Cove bay, but no seal colony is

present in the area. The impact on seals is likely considered indirect, thus not significant.


Impact on ASPA n°161

The ASPA n°161 coastal marine area does not require strict flying rules according to the CEP

Guidelines for marine areas.

The approach and take off paths do not cross the ASPA borders. Passing over the ASPA will only

be considered for safety reasons during missed approach procedure (instrumental or non-

instrumental).

An air quality monitoring will be activated, with the installation of an air sampler close to the coast

pertinent to the ASPA, according to the runway position and the prevalent winds direction.

Figure 5.2: The area around MZS with the planned flight routes.

Operative landing/taking off and of emergency missed approach (green and red lines respectively),

over layered with bird colonies (yellow star) and ASPA 161/173 borders (black lines).

Impact on ASPA n°173

The ASPA n°173 consists of coastal marine and terrestrial area of scientific importance for the

Emperor Penguin Colony at Cape Washington. The overflight of part of this ASPA is permitted

over 2,000 ft, according to CEP guidelines. The planned path for aircrafts coming from

Christchurch does not over flight any part of the ASPA (transit through ZUKKY point). Otherwise

aircrafts coming from McMurdo, Antarctica (transiting through KALVA point), will fly over the

extreme West of ASPA n°173, in an non restricted area close to Campbell Glacier, at an altitude


over 2,000 ft. ZUKKY and KALVA access points are nowadays used for intercontinental flights

with Hercules L100/30, landing on fast ice runway close to MZS. No impact related to air

operations was registered on the area, so no direct neither indirect impact is expected on this ASPA

for the gravel runway air operations, according to the altitude and the position of the planned flight

paths.

Impact on other ASPA in Ross Sea Region

In Ross Sea area have been proposed and established other two ASPAs, as presented in Figure 5.3

(ASPA n°165 and ASPA n°118). These protected areas are both situated more than 50 km far from

the centre of the airstrip and the flight path does not intersect any of their boundaries, maintaining a

consistent distance from the areas. With this evidence we can foresee there will be neither major nor

minor direct or cumulated impacts on these ASPAs.

Figure 5.3: ASPAs of Terra Nova Bay and Wood Bay area


Introduction of foreign species

In general in the evaluation of the impacts on the ecosystem for intercontinental carrying should

take in account the possible introduction of foreign species.

It’s already known the presence of many non-native species on the Antarctic continent (eg. seeds,

grasses, algae, fruit flies, worms, spiders, midges, microorganisms) caused by natural transportation

by migratory birds, the anthropogenic activity. Alien species introductions problem had been finally

recognized of utmost importance in the Resolution 6 (ATCM XXXIV CEP XIV Buenos AIRES

2011) related to Non Native Species Manual.

Development of human activities recorded in recent years in these regions (including science,

logistics, tourism, fishing and recreation), will increase the risk of unintentional introductions of

organisms.

With this sight a precautionary approach should be applied to minimise the risk of human transport

of non-native species, as well as the risk of intra-regional and local transfer of propagules to pristine

regions. Nevertheless, prevention is the most effective means of minimising the risks associated

with the introduction of non-native species and their impacts.

A monitoring plan and mitigation measures (Paragraph 5.3.6) on non-native species must be applied

to minimise the risk of human-mediated introduction of non-native species, as well as the risk of

intra-regional and local transfer.

5.1.6. Impact on wilderness and aesthetic values

The proposed site is an area where there are exposed bedrock outcrops and glacial moraines. The

horizontal glacial sedimentary layers develop relatively flat topography, and the construction of

buildings and routes may nevertheless result in, though minor and local, a visual disturbance to the

natural landscape of the region.

The runway is planned to have a minimum impact on the landscape and to maintain the aesthetics

of the region. Of course part of the hill situated on left in the runway direction towards south will be

levelled. The buildings and facilities at the runway will be contained within the proposed area to

reduce the influence on the local scenery as much as possible. Tracked vehicles will only be used on

the designated routes to minimize the disturbances to the land surface.

The use of vehicles and mechanical equipment will be done through a new road (just in part

planned in a previous environmental evaluation (BRASILIA 2014). The final part of the collecting

road will be done correspondently with the runway and it is considered to have only transitory and

minor impact.

Wilderness of the area would be respected limiting the interaction with local environment, using

only the access road, training the passengers regarding conservation of flora and fauna measures.


The runway will implement the Waste Management Plan of the MZS to treat the produced waste

and bring it out of Antarctica. In addition, the Environmental Management Plan will also be

implemented to reduce the negative impact on the local environment.

5.1.7. Impact of solid waste collection and disposal

During the activity of the runway construction and operation, a certain amount of solid waste will

be produced.

According to the definition of Annex III (Paragraph 8) of the Protocol on Environmental Protection

to the Antarctic Treaty, solid waste is classified into the following categories:

Recoverable garbage (metal, plastic, paper, wood and glass, etc.);

Organic waste (mainly from foodstuff);

Hazardous waste (batteries, oil sludge etc.);

Unclassifiable garbage;

Fuel drums.

Solid waste produced in the construction stage and operations

In the construction stage of the runway, and in particular during the operation a considerable

amount of no dangerous solid waste will be produced. Wastes will be mainly composed of food,

human and domestic wastes. Besides we will have building materials, including metal, plastics,

glass and wood.

Following the operative instruction for management of field camp (MZS field camp management

manual system) in Table 5.6 we classify the wastes produced in field camp and correspondent type

of storage.

Table 5.6 Wastes produced in field camp and the pertinent storage system.

As appropriate, according to rules, wastes will be separately collected, following PNRA procedures,

in the following way: solid wastes (i.e. cardboard, packaging material, wood, plastics, glass,

batteries) will be separated by type, compacted if possible, and temporary stored in MZS and

shipped back to Italy with m/n Italica when necessary (following Antarctic Treaty regulation on

wastes). The storage area in the construction camp will be chosen to less impact on environment,

and to simplify handling and transportation back to MZS.

Waste Storage

Paper, cardboard, kitchen waste Plastic sealed envelope

Wood Box, cartons, sealed envelope

Metal Box, cartons, sealed envelope

Plastic Box, cartons, sealed envelope

faeces Cartons, cartons inside lined with sealed envelope

Toxic waste or fuel spill products Airtight metal drum


At MZS, wastes such as paper, cardboard, wood and food are incinerated in a two-stage incinerator

(with post-combustor at T=1000° C). The incinerator follows the Italian environmental law and the

gas exhausts released in atmosphere are monitored (i.e. SOx, NOx, PAH, …). Bottom and fly ashes

are collected, sealed in drums and, as required, sent back in Italy at the end of the operations.

Plastics and all other wastes are compacted, packaged, labelled, and removed from the Antarctic

Treaty area. Wastewaters will be collected in appropriate containers and subsequently transported to

MZS, where they can be treated in a physicochemical wastewater treatment plant that fulfils the

requirements of the Italian Environmental law.

Potential impacts will be handled following PNRA policies and procedures currently in place, such

as waste management protocols for separating, containing, and returning wastes from field camp

sites.

Depending on many factors, an estimate amount of wastes possibly produced in the construction

and operation stage of the runway at the moment it is very difficult to foresee.

Roughly, excluding metal and wood used into the construction site, we can consider about 2-3 Kg

of waste for person per day. Total amount to manage could be about 25-40 Kg of human waste

(seawage, plastic, paper) per day, corresponding to 1 ton for month.

Besides from environmental point of view, should be very important avoid the access to waste for

skuas attracted on site by noise and food not preserved. In this way we can also guarantee the area

free from skuas during construction and particularly during operation stage.

5.2. Methodology

The following criteria are used to identify the character of the impact and to make the qualitative

and quantitative assessment on the potential environmental impact.

A matrix is used to summarize the environmental impact of construction and operation of the

runway and it is based on the reference reported below:

Type

We classify the impacts as direct, indirect or cumulated impact.

Sector

It means the character of the impact caused by the activities on potential receptors.

Sources

It is used for identification of the impact possibly associated with the activities and it is in

compliance with the Environmental Protocol.


Description of potential impact

It is qualitatively classified as the direct impact, indirect impact and cumulative impact. Specific

descriptions of these three categories of impact are shown in Article 3 of Annex 1 of the Protocol

Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

Evaluation of impact

It is classified in relation to extent, duration, intensity, probability.

Extent

It means affected geographical areas ranging from local, regional, Antarctic to global areas.

Duration

It is classified as “very short term” (minutes to days), “short” (weeks to months),”medium” (years),

“long” (decades), “permanent” and “unknown”. There may be a lag time between the occurrence of

the result and the time of the impact.

Intensity

The general impact level is assessed at different degrees (low, medium and high). Low degree

means that there is only small effect on the natural function or process, and this effect is reversible;

medium degree means that there is an effect on the natural function or process, but the process is

not affected by a long-term change and this influence is reversible; high degree means there is a

long-term or cumulative effect on the natural function or process, and such impact is probably

irreversible.

Probability

The possibility of impact is described at different extents like low, medium, high, corresponding

respectively to unlikely, likely, certain.

Mitigation measures

Mitigation and prevention measures are considered to limit the possible impact in the different

matrices caused by different sources.

5.2.1. Impact matrices

According to the criteria mentioned above and the mitigation measures, the table of impact matrix

which summarizes the environmental impact of the construction and operation activities is

prepared. The output and the resulting environmental impact of each activity are identified. Based

on the references given in Methodology (Section 5.2), the type (direct, indirect, cumulated), extent,

duration, intensity, probability (high, medium, low) and significance of the impact are then ranked

in Table 5.7.


Table 5.7: Impact matrices

Sector Sources Description of potential

impacts

Evaluation of

impact

Mitigation

Air

Emission to

air

Use of

kerosene or

JA1 for

aircraft and

vehicles

releases

combustion

gases.

Combustion gases released

into the atmosphere can

contribute to the greenhouse

effect both directly and

indirectly.

Air quality in general may be

affected by releasing

combustion compounds into

the atmosphere. This fact

could affect atmospheric

research in the region.

The frequency of provided

flights will be low (8/month

for 4 month/year) so the

expected impact will be

restrained.

Type: D Extent: M Duration: L Intensity: M

Probability: H

Emissions are inevitable but

will be minimized by well-

planned logistics to reduce

flights.

Well maintained vehicles will

be used.

High energy efficient fuel

will be used.

The site will be monitored

and the flight will be

managed to limit the impacts.

Renewable energy sources

will be implemented on yhe

site and at MZS.

Soil/ice

Accidental

oil spill

Fuel and oil

spills may

occur during

aircraft

refuelling and

fuel transfer

procedures

between transit

and fuel tanks.

Fuel spills may permeate

through rock cracks or pore

spaces of moraines.

Fuel spills may contaminate

the soil and also adversely

affect the flora living in the

cracks between rocks and the

surrounding fauna.

Type: D Extent: L Duration: M Intensity: M

Probability: L

To prevent fuel spills, fuel

reservoirs will be double-

skinned and posed on

confined structures made of

impermeable layer and

concrete and with adequate

capacity.

Oil spill contingency plans

and equipment and training

(cf. aircraft requirements),

due care and attention, use of

appropriate spill prevention

material when refueling,

reinforced by education and

training.


Table 5.7: Impact matrices (continue)

Flora

Emission to

air

Use of

kerosene or

JA1 for

aircraft and

vehicles

releases

combustion

gases.

Take-off and

landing, can

raise dust

Uptake of combustion

products may in the long run

inhibit growth and

reproduction in plants.

Sensitivity in plants may

vary, and changes in species

composition may occur.

It is expected that the limited

exposure to output will

hinder any significant

impact.

Type: D/C Extent: H Duration: L Intensity: L

Probability:

H

Use of “clean” fuel as far as

possible to prevent gaseous

emissions

Fauna

Emission to

air

Use of

kerosene or

JA1 for

aircraft and

vehicles

releases

combustion

gases.

Take-off and

landing, can

raise dust

Ingestion through food not

likely due to marine diet.

Low Inhalation due to

distance from source.

Exposure could in the long

run affect respiratory system

and other vital functions.

It is expected that the limited

exposure and the adequate

prevention measures will

hinder any significant

impact.

Type: D/C Extent: L Duration: L Intensity: M

Probability: L

Coordination of flight to

ensure as few as possible

flights are conducted

Use of “clean” fuel as far as

possible to prevent gaseous

emissions

The site will be monitored

and the operation of flights

will be adequately managed.

Noise

Aircraft operations and the

produced noise have the

potential to disturb and to

impact negatively on bird

life. A gradient of increasing

behavioral response is

evident in birds when

exposed to increasing

aircraft stimulus. The most

major disturbance is likely to

lead to impacts on the health,

breeding performance and

survival of individual birds,

and perhaps bird colonies.

The exposure is time limited.

Type: D Extent: M Duration: L Intensity: L

Probability: H

Minimum horizontal and

vertical separation distances

for aircraft operations close to

concentrations of birds in

Antarctica as recommended

by the SCAR Bird Biology

Subgroup, are verified.

Also the recommendations of

the new guidelines adopted by

the Antarctic Treaty

Consultative Parties in June

2004 will be respected.

Take-off and landing will be

in the opposite direction

respect to the penguins

colony. So the aircraft never

overfly the colony.


Table 5.7: Impact matrices (continue)

Obstruction Birds killed in aircraft

encounters is relatively high

in the more populated parts

of the world (see e.g.

www.birdstrike.org). In the

case of this runway the

number of such incidents is

expected to be very low (if

any) due to the low number

of flights and the observed

flight patterns for the birds.

Only a few individuals

would be affected, and no

ripple effect would be

expected.

Type: D Extent: M Duration: L Intensity: L

Probability:

M

No mitigation measures

Landscape

Mechanical

actions and

obstructions

A permanent modification of

the landscape is expected.

The impacted area in the

case Boulder Clay site is

very confined and the

expected impact is restricted.

For Campo Antenne site

higher impact is expected.

Type: D Extent: M Duration: H Intensity: L

(site 2), H

(site 2)

Probability: H

No mitigation measures

5.3. Mitigation measure

5.3.1. Present protection status and envisaged measure

Recently the establishment of spatial protection for marine biodiversity has been identified as a

priority issue by both the CEP and SC-CAMLR.

Ross Sea Region under consideration as a future MPA was identified in the 2007 CCAMLR

Bioregionalization Workshop. Herein the Terra Nova Bay area was proposed as SSRU (small scale

research unit). The SSRU proposal for Terra Nova Bay is consequent to a wider proposal for Ross

Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) that should include part the CCAMLR statistical subareas 88.1

and 88.2 (Ross Sea). Inside this area some smaller MPAs with valuable ecosystem components

were allocated: Marine ASPA n°161 (Terra Nova Bay), ASPA n°165 (Edmonson Point), ASPA

n°173 Cape Washington and Silverfish Bay.

The main objectives for enlarging protection measures in the TNB area are to conserve and protect

the unique and outstanding environment of the Terra Nova Bay region, an outstanding example of

near-pristine marine ecosystems on Earth, by managing the variety of activities and interests in the

area with the scope to ensure that its important values are protected and sustained in the long term.


International regulation of the impacts of human activities in Antarctica can be resumed in four

principal organizations, the Whaling Commission (IWC) 1948, the Antarctic Treaty 1961, the

Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) 1982 and The

Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol, 1998).

During fifty years the Antarctic has suffered the presence of more than 80 Scientific Bases and the

unavoidable impact on its environment.

Over the past decade, the intensity and diversity of human activities have continued to increase and

for this reason also sources of contamination are increasing.

Recent studies have further defined the nature of local chemical contamination in Antarctica and the

main sources or types of chemical contamination are now well established: fuel spills, heavy metals

(copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, mercury, arsenic) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), contamination

derived from other persistent contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and

polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) from combustion processes.

A significant amount of persistent atmospheric contaminants is also transported to Antarctica from

other continents, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. The import of trace gases such as carbon

dioxide (from the burning of biomass and fossil fuels) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, used as

flame-retardants and refrigerants) has significantly changed the Antarctic atmosphere in recent

decades. Through sea ice, persistent atmospheric contaminants are also transferred to water and

organisms and can accumulate in tissues and biomagnifying in food chains.

Human activities, particularly construction and transport, have affected Antarctic flora and fauna.

Considering the continuing expansion of human activities in Antarctica, a more effective

implementation of a wide range of measures is essential as an effective environmental impact

assessments, long-term monitoring, mitigation measures for non-indigenous species, management

of marine living resources and new regulation for the management of tourism activities that during

the last 2 decades have contributed in substantial manner to the increasing of impact particularly on

flora and fauna.

The presence of the Italian Base during the last 25 years has produced inevitable impacts around the

area due to the construction and growth of the Base, to the construction of runway on ice, wharf,

helicopter site and field camp.

By the end of eighties Italian Program carried out a monitoring program to verify and mitigate

possible impacts following the current environmental management regime (primarily

Environmental Protocol and CCAMLR)

It is comprehensible to consider the scientific research essential for the understanding of new

climatic and environmental challenges, but the value of Antarctica should be weighed against the

environmental impact of scientific work and its logistic activities [5.4].


5.3.2. Mitigation measures for Atmospheric pollution.

Fuel JA1 will be used for every vehicles or machinery. All vehicles and mechanical equipment will

be selected and procured under the condition that they must have excellent performance and are

technically advanced. JA1 has appropriate density, high calorific value, and good combustion

performance. The combustion process is fast, stable, continuous and complete. It has few carbon

deposits but high cleanliness. It has no mechanical impurity or water content. Its content of sulphur,

especially mercaptan is low, thus resulting in much less corrosion to machine elements.

5.3.3. Mitigation measures for noise prevention

The simultaneous operation of construction equipment will be limited in order to minimize the

impact of noise on the colonies of penguins and skuas, although the predicted levels of noise under

the simultaneous operation condition are negligible. In addition, possible use of machines of low

noise and vibration-reduction technologies will be considered.

The blasting activity will be considered only for areas where the rock soil level must be reduced.

These ridges are located sufficiently far from Adelie Cove: the distance would be enough to

consider the activity without major effects on the penguins colony.

To further mitigate the impact, this activity will be reduced as much as possible, with a calculated

soil volume to be blasted less than the 2% of the total material needed for the embankment.

Efforts will be made to minimize the operations, aircraft, vehicles and mechanical equipment etc.

Noise-absorbing materials will be installed in power generator facilities. If it is necessary to operate

aircraft, its flight will be kept within the height and space limitation stipulated in the Antarctic

Flight Information Manual formulated by COMNAP, Maintenance and service will be provided

regularly for vehicles, generators and mechanical equipment etc. so as to keep noise to the lowest

level.

5.3.4. Prevention and mitigation measures of oil spills

Accidental oil and fuel spill can be overcome using the best practice during refuelling and

transportation.

To prevent fuel spills, fuel tanks will be double-skinned and posed on confined structures made of

impermeable layer and concrete and with adequate capacity.

The following response equipment is at all times to be available at the station:

1) Oil absorbing mats for refuelling sites;

2) Spill kits containing absorbent pillows and fabric for vehicles and field parties;

3) Protective plastic barrels for 200 liter fuel drums;


4) Plastic bags;

5) Protective masks and rubber gloves.

These measures will be sufficient to prevent and minimize oil spill episodes that could arise during

normal operations. Equipment listed above will be much more relevant in case of oil spill as

consequence of unexpected conditions or breaks in equipment, aircraft etc. These cases are

correctly included in the risk analysis (Cap. 7).

5.3.5. Mitigation measures against the loss of wilderness and aesthetic values

In the design of the runway, the local environmental conditions will be taken into full consideration.

The harmonization with the local environment will be made to the greatest possible extent so as to

minimize visual impact.

Highly efficient vehicles and mechanical equipment will also be adopted so as to minimize the

emission to the atmosphere.

In the area the use of vehicles, mechanical equipment and aircraft will be reduced as much as

possible and gradually mark out the driving lines of vehicles to ensure that the number of tracks can

be kept at the lowest level.

Mitigation actions finalized to biodiversity conservation and against the loss of wilderness will be

carried out, starting before and to prosecuting during the construction of the runway, in particular

for what concerns the vegetation component.

Indeed, the runway construction will imply the total destruction and erase of all the vegetation

growing within the runway path and in all the service areas directly interested by the construction

works, including the quarry areas. For these reasons it is mandatory that the mitigation actions will

start before the runway construction and will prosecute also during it. For the vegetation

component, the only possible mitigation action is the transplant of patches of vegetation (and the

underneath soil) from the runway and service areas into safe neighbour areas where the runway

impacts will be negligible and where the edaphic and ecological local conditions will be similar to

those of the original sites located within the runway.

The mitigation actions will be developed in different phases:

Preliminary phase pre-construction 1: analyses of the vegetation occurring within the runway path

and in the surrounding neighbour areas to identify the areas with highest conservation priorities

Preliminary phase pre-construction 2: selection of the priority areas candidate for the transplant

actions;

Preliminary phase pre-construction 3: identification and mapping of the areas devoted to host the

vegetation patches transplanted from the runway;


Phase 4 before and during runway construction: removal of the selected high priority vegetation

patches and their transplant in the selected safe areas;

Phase 5 during and after runway construction: long-term monitoring of the success of the transplant

actions in safe areas.

The transplant actions need to be performed during the runway construction but with a temporal

advantage, allowing to have time to move the selected priority vegetation patches in safe places the

before the destruction of the original runway path.

5.3.6. Mitigation measures against non-native species introduction

Non-native species may be introduced through the usual means of access to the Antarctic continent

(eg. ships, aircraft, containers, vehicles, materials, science, personnel). Up to now at MZS or

Concordia Station, no evidence of non-native species introduction was observed, however Italy is

aware that prevention is the most effective means of minimizing the risks of introduction.

The PNRA already addresses this risk. Currently intercontinental flights are performed in the first

part of the season and once every two/three years the multi-purpose vessel Italica is chartered for

transportation of fuel, goods, personnel and for scientific research. The Non-native Species Manual

(Non-native Species Manual. – 1st ed. - Buenos Aires : Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty, 2011)

and the checklist distributed by COMNAP for supply chain managers of National Antarctic

Programmes for the reduction in risk of transfer of non-native species are followed. Prevention

focuses on pre-departure measures and specific information on the risks of non-native species

introduction is currently given to Italian personnel going to Antarctica, during the training course

and during the pre-departure briefing at Christchurch, NZ.

Controls are always carried out before departure for Antarctica, on containers and freight loading.

Equipment, food and personnel clothing is also always checked before boarding. In particular, fresh

food is properly packed and food wastes are incinerated. The Antarctic clothes provided (when not

new) are always washed at high temperature, while boots washed and sanitized. Controls are

accurate especially in the parts containing Velcro fasteners, pants, cuffs where seeds and other

species are more likely to be found. Scientific instruments are also sanitized where possible and

necessary.

The proposed gravel runway will not result in a transitory increased movement of personnel and

material, during the construction phase and we expect to have 10-15 more persons on site than

usual.

Once in operation, an increase of personnel arriving and departing from Boulder Clay is expected

instead of arriving at MZS via Basler or Twin Otter from/to McMurdo Station, however no

significant increase in the overall presence of Italian personnel is actually expected.


If, as expected, exchange of logistic services with neighbouring countries will result in an increase

of activities in the area, the PNRA will ensure, in cooperation with the other neighbouring Antarctic

Programs, more stringent controls on clothing and materials transported.

Good baseline data on native fauna and flora is already available, as previously discussed, and

monitoring of eventual non-native species introduction will be performed through regular

observations.

5.4. BIBLIOGRAPHY

5.1 Starik A.M., (2007) – Gaseosus and Particulate Emission with Jet Engine Exhaust and Atmospheric

Pollution. In RTO-EN-AVT-150-Advances on Propulsion Technology for High-Speed Aircraft, p.

398

5.2 Reed, S.E., J.L. Boggs, and J.P. Mann. (2012). SPreAD-GIS: a GIS tool for modeling

anthropogenic noise propagation in natural ecosystems. Environmental Modelling & Software 37:

1-5.

5.3 Defence infrastructure organisation (Raf Brize Norton) – C130 EGR Noise Assessment Technical

Report, August 2012.

5.4 Bargagli R. (2005) – Antarctic ecosystems: environmental contamination, climate change, and

human impact. Berlin: Springer, 395 pp.


6. Environmental Monitoring Plan and Dismantling

6.1. Environmental monitoring plan

The monitoring objective is to evaluate and analyse the surrounding environmental impact due to

the activities of the runway during the construction and operation phases. Together with this

fundamental aim, the environmental monitoring plan (EMOP) will be buil to also provide

simultaneously relevant operation information of the facility.

Monitoring the environmental impacts will allow PNRA to take immediate actions to reduce or

eliminate such impact. An important feed-back of this aspect will be an improved understanding of

the interactions between the on-site human activity and the surrounding Antarctic environment,

along with a better assessment of the predicted impacts issued in the present Draft CEE.

On the other side, EMOP will include monitoring and recording of the airstrip operations, including

air traffic and fuel consumption data, fuel spill events, personnel number in transit through the

facility, eventually waste production and its disposal route to MZS. All this information will help

PNRA to determine whether the impacts conform to those estimated in the present CEE and if the

proposed mitigation measures are still valid, or an immediate review should be considered.

It should be noted that highest priority in terms of a monitoring program should be those values that

are the most sensitive, those most likely to be significantly impacted, those that are most important

to protect, or a combination of these factors. Potential indicators of impact, defined as “signs or

symptoms of changes, potentially due to numerous factors, in an environmental feature or features”,

along with their relative parameters, are shown in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1: Some potential indicators and parameters for use in monitoring programmes in Antarctica.

Indicator Parameter

“Footprint” Area subject to human activity, e.g. spatial coverage of

buildings, number and location of field expeditions

Air quality SO2, particulates (metals, PAH)

Soil quality Metals, TPH, PAH

Sea water quality TSS, DO, BOD, COD, pH, conductivity (ASPA 161)

Snow and ice quality Metals, TPH, TSS

Vegetation quality Spatial extent, metals

Wildlife health Population size, breeding success

Fuel handling Amount consumed, number, size and location of spills,

Aircraft/vehicle operations Distance travelled, number of landings, fuel consumed

Solid and liquid waste Waste types (including hazard), volume / weight

Field activities Number of person days in field, location of field camps

Introduced organisms Species, distribution, population size


On the base of analysis developed along the document up to now (mainly those reported in Cap. 4

on the Initial Environmental Status), with respect to the environmental impacts, EMOP will put

attention to 5 areas: (1) permafrost and ice-blisters; (2) fauna (including penguins, skua, etc.); (3)

vegetation; (4) air quality; (5) deformation processes.

EMOP will be implemented and managed by PNRA involving for each specific area above listed,

experts arising from the scientific community, identified on the basis of the specific knowledge of

peculiar characteristics of the Boulder Clay and Terra Nova Bay area.

Preliminary monitoring activities have been developed in previous year and more systematically

during the austral campaign 2015-16, with aims to (i) ameliorate the knowledge on the

environmental status of the Boulder Clay area with respect fauna, vegetation and permafrost and (ii)

be able to start monitoring activities since the beginning of construction phase.

Below detailed monitoring plan for the 5 elements are reported.

6.1.1. Permafrost and ice blisters

Boulder Clay runway will be realized in a continuous permafrost area with a general high ice

content because the major part of the track is planned on a debris-covered glacier. As already

mentioned in chapter 4, in the actual climate change frame this area is experiencing an active layer

thickness increasing despite the substantial stability of the air temperature [4.23]. Therefore a

correct monitoring plan of permafrost conditions is essential both to record the environmental

impacts of the runway but also to manage its maintaining actions.

To monitor the changes of permafrost conditions is mandatory monitor the following parameters: (i)

the spatial and temporal variability of snow cover, (ii) the thermal regime of the active layer and of

the upper permafrost, (iii) the permafrost hydrology and the ice blisters and hypersaline brines

ecosystems along the runway (upward and downward the track).

The monitoring plan here described includes the ante-operam actions necessary to define the natural

state of the snow cover variability and of active layer and permafrost variability and above all the

Post-Operam actions to assess the impacts of the runway itself.

Ante-Operam Monitoring

The monitoring plan during the first phase will have to include a) the upgrading of the existent

CALM grid, b) the installation of a monitoring system along the runway and c) the installation of

the monitoring system of the permafrost hydrology of the frozen lake close to the CALM grid.

(a) The upgrading of the CALM grid will be realized with the installation of at least 4 snow cams

and 121 snow stakes to monitor the snow variability. At least two of the snow cams should be

equipped with infrared camera to record also the changes of the snow cover during the austral night.

It should be also upgraded the monitoring of the thermal regime of the active layer through the


upgrading of the monitoring system of the temperature within the active layer and the upper

permafrost (down to 1 m of depth) to reach a minimum number of 36 nodes equipped with a

minimum of 4 thermistors in each node. In each node should be monitored at least at 2 different

depths also the water content.

(b) The monitoring system along the runway will be composed by at least 25 shallow boreholes of 1

m of depth located upward, downward and on the thinner border of the embankment in selected

transects along the runway track. The upward and downward boreholes will allow to monitor the

thermal differences induced by the changes in the snow accumulation produced by the embankment

while the third type of boreholes will allow the monitoring of the direct impact of the runway.

In each borehole should be replicate the same configuration planned for the CALM grid nodes. The

snow monitoring along the runway will be achieved installing two couples of snow cams in two

different transect along the runway.

(c) The permafrost hydrology will be monitored in only one selected frozen lake along the runway

track because this type of installation is more expansive and not standardized. The installation will

be located on the lake 16 (Guglielmin et al., 2009) and will be composed by three new deep

boreholes (at least 10 m) of which one located upward the lake, one within the lake and the third

one downward the lake and downward the runway track. In each boreholes a thermistors string and

a multiparameter probe will be installed. The brine eventually occurring within the boreholes will

be sampled every year for chemical and microbiological analysis (under sterile conditions). The

installation will be completed through the installation of a snow cam and a net of sublimation stakes

on the lake. Technical details of the installations will be provided during the executive projects of

the monitoring plan.

Post-operam Monitoring

The Post-operam monitoring plan consists in the maintaining of all the monitoring structures

realized in the ante-operam phase with a possible upgrading of all or some selected structures to

allow the satellite transmission of the data that could be useful to the management of the runway.

6.1.2. Fauna

The construction and operation of the proposed airstrip can affect with possible direct impact on

penguins and skuas population nesting at Adélie Cove. Although airstrip minimum distance from

the penguin colony meets the SCAR guidelines (Harris 2005, [4.39]) and the wind directions from

the runway to the colony are favourable (see chapter 4, Figure 4.19), the lack of natural protection

(i.e. hills or geographical features) will not mitigate any impact on the colony. From a temporal

point of view, moreover, aircraft operations need to overlap entirely with the delicate stages of

reproduction such as those that characterize the first part of the breeding season. The suspension of

activities in the sensitive period, as suggested by SCAR guidelines, in this case cannot be met.


Beyond the direct impact other forms of indirect impact (aircraft operations, infrastructure

construction, support and maintenance for the airstrip, see in Woehler et al [6.1]) can potential

affect marine wildlife foraging in the bay of Adélie Cove (eg seals) and seabirds species breeding in

the inference of the airstrip, i.e. in the terrestrial and marine coastal area from Terra Nova Bay to

the Northern Foothills.

With the intention to develop specific guidelines for the management of the site of interest,

monitoring will characterize rigorously and through quantitative measures as many forms of

potential impact.

A pre-construction (ante operam) phase aiming to describe baseline data has been started and shall

be used in later years as a baseline dataset. A following long term monitoring program with novel

collection of data will be used to assess wildlife population trends in order to early identify potential

impacts. The parameters are chosen for giving short term information in order to quickly correct

any deficiencies and suggest adjustments for management or mitigation measures.

Ante-operam monitoring

Highest priority for monitoring is to establish a pre-disturbance baseline for several parameters. For

this reason a description as accurate as possible of the Adélie penguin colony, of the wildlife and its

positioning was carried out in 2015-2016 Antarctic campaign (see Chapter 4, Figure 4.22):

• desktop study and documentation of the penguin colony size and estimation and distribution of

population of seabirds species in the area from MZS to Adélie Cove, according to existing

literatures and previous surveys carried out by Italian researchers;

• georeferencing the upper limit of the Adelie penguins’ colony;

• georeferencing the skuas nesting areas nearby the penguin colony.

This will allow to detect any possible future deviations from the current situation, especially with

regard to the upper margin of the colony (the one farthest from the sea and closest to the runway),

as for example the displacement of group of nests, as well as significant changes in the consistency

of the species. Marine birds and mammals (i.e. snow petrels, wilson storm petrels, leopard and

weddell seals, killer whales and baleen whales) occurring in the stretch of coastal area that goes

from Terra Nova Bay to the Northern Foothills and Adélie Cove will have to be included, as they

can be potentially affected by the approaching route of the aircraft to the runway.

Additional data still required will be:

• satellite images of the area of interest during different stages of the breeding season;

• observation and survey of marine mammals in the area during the Antarctic summer;

• colony’s noise level during normal activities (e.g. no disturbance).


Construction and operational phase monitoring

Three main risks are likely to have the greatest potential of impact to wildlife during airstrip

construction and operational phases. These are disturbance from noise and visual presence of

operations, bird strikes and disturbance at breeding sites arising from increased human visitors.

Noise and Visual impacts

There is a potential for disturbance to the wildlife from aircrafts through noise and visual impacts.

The image of the aircraft it may be associated with a possible element of danger (e.g. predator),

while different levels of noise may have increasing impacts during reproductive phases (cfr. de

Villiers [6.2]).

Both of these components of the impact must be quantified by standardized behavioural

observations by an operator recording animal’s different reactions to the approaching aircraft.

Measures of behaviour will be carried out by researchers also with the aid of a camera. Noise

measurements in the proximity of the colony will be included, installing control units for the

background noise and an automated image acquisition camera to measure the behavioural response

during the various stages of the project. Measuring should be repeated and continue for a period of

time long enough to accurately assess the potential impacts.

Bird strikes

The risk of collision of aircraft with flying birds is low. Although unlikely strikes are a possible

security risks and it is proposed to carry out a risk assessment of bird strikes and the development of

management procedures designed to reduce to zero the chances of impact. Skuas may be attracted

in the runway area by the possibility of gathering food, e.g. wastes, for this reason management

procedures should then be taken strictly as routine procedures especially by staff operating on the

airstrip during construction phase and during its normal operations.

Human presence and Mitigation of the impact of visitors.

Adélie Cove penguin colony is easily accessible from MZS. This makes this area one of the most

visited by Italian Antarctic personnel. The presence of a road, as a facility for the airstrip project,

will undoubtedly increase the number of people visiting the colony. Increased human presence and

potential impacts from airstrip project can add up causing additional stress levels on birds especially

in a sensitive period such as the reproduction.

Regulated visits may however become a moment of leisure and education through aware and

respectful observation of the wildlife. Specific regulations will be developed to manage the flow

and the behaviour of visitors.

A further step in mitigation could be placing an observation hut from which unseen visitors could

then observe and photograph animals from a safe distance.


Post-operam and long term monitoring

In addition to the above actions, the following assessment will be carried out in the long run to

assess the potential cumulative impacts of the airstrip project:

monitoring of the Adélie penguin breeding population in the study area; year to year

variations of the distribution, reproductive success and population size and comparisons

with other two control colonies, Edmonson Point and Inexpressible Island;

estimation of seabirds and marine mammals abundance and sightings frequency to be

compared with the ante operam scenario;

non-destructive sampling of tissues (i.e. unhatched eggs, feathers, blood) for the

quantification of potential impacts of contaminants and the presence of genotoxicity caused

by the presence of chemical compounds in the biota.

6.1.3. Vegetation

The assessment of the priority areas for the mitigation actions finalized to reduce the negative

impacts have already been discussed in paragraph 5.3.5. Besides that, the monitoring plan focusing

on the impacts on vegetation is organized in the main activities described below.

Ante-operam monitoring

Vegetation analysis and mapping within the runway path and at highest risk of negative impacts is

available. More details on this topic are already been provided in paragraph 4.3.2. During the field

campaign 2015/2016, the available vegetation information have been integrated with the new data

provided by a specific survey carried out within the runway path, the surrounding areas and the

quarry areas. These data allow to have a detailed knowledge of the flora and vegetation occurring

along the runway, to identify differences in terms of floristic composition and/or coverage

comparing the runway with the surrounding areas and to identify the areas suitable for the

mitigation actions (transplant operations). Moreover, the vegetation survey allowed to identify the

quarry areas suitable to provide the construction material and to indicate the quarry areas where

vegetation conditions made them not suitable for these operations. All these data will provide the

starting reference for all future long-term monitoring for the assessment of the runway impacts on

flora and vegetation of Boulder Clay.

Construction and operational phase monitoring

The traditional bio-monitoring is performed using single individuals of lichens and bryophytes to

assess their bio-accumulation of pollutants and the eventual damages induced by air and soil

pollution on their structure, morphology and reproduction (see the following point). These activities

will be finalized to the long-term monitoring at the species and community level, selecting

vegetation patches of different community types occurring in the areas surrounding the runway path

and installing there permanent plots. Each plot will be characterized in terms of floristic


composition, species coverage and distribution within each plot, sampling of vegetation and soils,

soil temperature and soil moisture monitoring. Indeed, the runway construction will induce changes

of the original topography of Boulder Clay and may induce impacts also on the snow accumulation

and its redistribution by wind, with consequences on the soil thermal regime and on soil hydrology

as well as on the water supply (mainly provided by snow melting) for vegetation. For the long-term

monitoring of vegetation and soil will be adopted the protocol adopted for the long-term monitoring

network developed in Victoria Land since 2002 and extended over 6 degrees of latitude (72°-78°S).

The monitoring frequency will be once per year during the runway construction and for the first five

years of runway operation. After that date and based on the observed impacts and the obtained

results, the monitoring could be performed every 3 years.

Post-operam and long term monitoring

The long-term monitoring of the transplanted areas (see details in paragraph 5.3.5) will be

performed using the same protocol adopted for the permanent plots long-term monitoring and will

be finalized to assess the success of these biodiversity conservation actions.

The transplanted areas monitoring will be performed once per year for a minimum duration of 10-

15 years.

Bio-monitoring using bryophytes and lichens in the areas adjacent/neighbour to the runway

The runway activity could imply the risk of air pollution and, due to the pollution transportation by

winds, also of soil pollution, with impacts on vegetation and soil. Air and soil pollution may induce:

a) bio-accumulation of pollutants within organisms and in soils, b) morphological and/or structural

changes of organisms, c) changes of the species composition at community level. In most cases the

bio-monitoring activities are performed using lichens, however, considering the high frequency of

bryophytes occurring in the area and that also bryophytes can be used as bio-indicators of pollution,

we considered a further environmental insurance to couple the lichen bio-monitoring with the

bryophytes bio-monitoring and the soil sampling. For this aim, the surrounding areas located along

the runway path were investigated to identify the sites suitable for the biological monitoring using

a) lichens and b) bryophytes.

The monitoring design has been organized according to the following criteria. The monitoring sites

have been identified at three different positions along the runway path: a) the northern edge, b)

central part and, c) southern edge of the runway. For each position (a, b, c) one location leeward and

on location windward were selected (al; aw; bl; bw; cl; cw). At each side and position (al; aw; bl;

bw; cl; cw) three sub-sites with the occurrence of epilithic lichens and three sub-sites with the

occurrence of bryophytes were selected, in order to provide true replications. These three sub-sites

were located at increasing distance from the runway (20, 40, 60 m): this design will allow also to

assess whether and how the pollution impact would decrease with distance from the runway.


Totally 18 sub-sites for the lichen bio-monitoring (example in Figure 6.1 left side) and 18 sub-sites

for the bryophytes bio-monitoring were selected (Figure 6.1 right side).

Figure 6.1: Example of a suitable site for lichen bio-monitoring (left side) and location of the sites for the bio-

monitoring of pollution impacts on lichens and bryophytes (right side)

Detailed descriptions of these sub-sites will be performed in future seasons, as well as the

installation of the specific monitoring grids devoted to the long-term monitoring of lichens and

mosses, their sampling (for chemical analyses), and the sampling of the soil underneath.

Accidental introduction of alien species.

Once per year will be performed a monitoring (through an extensive and detailed survey of the

areas surrounding the runway and of the path from the runway to the research station) to identify

the eventual occurrence of alien species accidentally introduced in the area. This activity will need

to be carried out both during the construction of the runway as well as during its operation.

6.1.4. Air quality

It is planned to install two control units for the air quality monitoring that operate regularly both

during runway construction than later during the operational phase of the infrastructure. Based on


the geographical location of the runway and local orography, we can identify two prevailing

direction for the transport of pollutants emitted as a result aircraft operations: trail head - in the

direction of Mario Zucchelli Station; country track - towards Adelie Cove and the colony of Adelie

Penguins. Based on above remark, we will therefore install two stations for monitoring air quality at

the top and bottom of the runway.

Each station will include a sampling system of the PM10 fraction (Atmospheric Particulate with

aerodynamic equivalent diameter of less than 10 um) atmospheric aerosol. Such a system will

ensure the sampling of aerosols on two different substrates: Teflon filters and quartz filters. The

Teflon filters will be used for the determination of ionic composition (anions and inorganic cations

and organic anions selected for ion chromatography) and of metals (with techniques of atomization

plasma with spectrophotometric detection - ICP-AES-or by mass spectrometry - ICP -MS). The

filters quartz will be used for the determination of components of the carbon cycle, with particular

regard to fractions Elemental Carbon (EC) and Organic Carbon (OC) and selected organic

pollutants (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - PAHs).

Two samplers channel Tecora Skypost units for each measurement site, for a total of 4 systems, will

be acquired. These samplers can work continuously for 15 days, with samplings of 24 hours, or 30

days, with samples on alternate days or 48 hours (in order to have a quantity of sample sufficient for

the analysis of trace metals). So they will offer the possibility to reduce considerably maintenance

and need of manual operations.

Compared to the use of just two samplers in two heads, samplers single channel allow a greater

flexibility, a better response to possible malfunctions and a simplified electronic (important

requirement for systems that must work in critical conditions of temperature and humidity).

The two stations will be located close to the weather stations, already envisaged for monitoring the

activities of the runway. Co-location will simplify combined analysis of concentration

measurements of aerosol chemical components against weather parameters.

In addition to these samplings, will be also evaluated the usefulness to monitor the atmospheric

concentration and size distribution of the particulate matter at the surface, making use of an OPC

(Optical Particle Counter) with a time resolution of 10 minutes.

Atmospheric precipitation sampling and analysis

In addition to the air quality monitoring through aerosol sampling, periodic measurements of the

chemical composition of the snow deposited in the Boulder Clay will be carried out. In this respect

snow samples will be collected with a weekly or 15 day time resolutions in 4 stations: trail head,

background track, sea side, side moraine. The snow samples will be analysed for the same chemical

components already listed for atmospheric aerosol, with the exception of the fractions EC/OC.


6.1.5. Deformation processes and micro landslide

InSAR monitoring

Ongoing deformation processes in the Area of Terra Nova Bay will be observed through the

Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) and Advanced DInSAR (A-DInSAR) techniques.

The detection and measurements of the moraine displacement, including monitoring of continuous

impacts of ice substrate processes, are a mandatory work to know the gravel airstrip stability. A-

DInSAR techniques, based on the use of multi-temporal stacks of SAR images allow to produce

deformation time series and mean velocity maps of a study area by exploiting many images

acquired through time over the same area, thus improving the understanding of a very wide

spectrum of geohazards.

Interferometric techniques will be applied to multi-platform SAR data and in particular, to

COSMO-SkyMed images acquired by ascending and descending orbits to monitor the slow

movement of the moraine, place of the construction of the airstrip. The use of high resolution SAR

data as well as the very low revisit time of the satellites (typical at polar region), will allow to derive

the ground deformation history of each coherent pixel of SAR scene and to compare it with

previously conducted SAR analyses. Continuous monitoring of ground subsidence plays a key role

in the assessment and mitigation of the associated risk and provides support for decision of airstrip

construction.

The activity will use interferometric products of the X-band COSMO-SkyMed sensor to gain an

improved understanding on the behaviour of a series of active moraine movement as well as to

derive key information on the status of natural ice substrate in regions of interest.

Advanced space-based differential SAR interferometry (A-DInSAR) techniques will be applied to

sequences of multi-temporal DInSAR interferograms, in order to detect and monitor the time

evolution of surface deformation phenomena affecting Boulder Clay. It is well to notice that the

temporal coherence in this area could be disturbed by the rapid change of reflectivity characteristics

of the ground surface in the time (temporal decorrelation).

We will mainly focus on:

(i) the analysis of the deformation through several A-DInSAR approaches in the areas of

interest, in order to improve our understanding on the underlying geological processes; in

particular for proper monitoring will be combined ascending and descending orbits to get

vertical and east-west components of deformation;

(ii) integrating ground deformation data coming from A-DInSAR and geodetic (spatial and

terrestrial) techniques, into a unique solution that takes all the advantages of each single

methodology;

(iii) integrated data coming from A-DInSAR analyses, other techniques and field data made

available by ENEA, will be used to perform a geomorphological and


geological/geotechnical interpretation of active processes observed over the moraine and

surrounding areas, taking into account the peculiar environment and the final aim of the

project.

DInSAR data

Future COSMO-SkyMed SAR acquisitions are expected to be available to us within the project. It

is worth remarking that the future availability of a consistent set of SAR images is a very crucial

issue for the achievement of the task aims, especially for what attains the generation of long-term

deformation time-series by A-DInSAR techniques.

Technical specifications of ground velocity maps are:

- Spatial coverage: the rectangular outlines in Figure 6.2. indicate the trace of the satellite images

that we will use to detect the ground velocities, depending on the considered SAR sensor, imaging

mode and incidence angle.

Figure 6.2: COSMO-Skymed ascending (upper) and descending (lower) tracks


Typically, the spatial coverage of the ascending and descending SAR image tracks used in the

EGEOS portal is of about 40x40 km for the COSMO-Skymed data collected in the Stripmap mode

The spatial coverage of the velocity map that will be generated is generally smaller, since the

velocity signal can be correctly retrieved in correspondence to high coherence pixels, only. In the

Up and East projected maps, derived by combination of two orbits, will have a spatial coverage that

is reduced respect to common ascending and descending coherent pixels in the relevant maps.

- Ground resolution: the ground resolution for each map also depends on the SAR sensor, imaging

mode and processing parameters. In our case, with reference to CSK sensor, the obtained results

will have a resolution of about 5x5 m.

- Temporal extent: the temporal extent of the ground displacement time series depends on the

satellite image dataset used for the processing and the ground velocity values are obtained by a

linear fit to the ground displacement time series and are thus referred to the same period.

- Temporal resolution: the temporal resolution of the ground displacement time series depends on

the satellite revisit time and on the archive completeness. Typical temporal resolutions vary

between one to 30 images per month (considering the complete operation of the 4 COSMO-

SkyMed sensors). For what concern ascending orbits only CSK1 is operating, whereas on the other

orbit, the repeat pass is performed by the whole constellation.

- Unit of measure: the time series show ground displacements in millimeters, while the ground

velocity is given in millimeters per year.

- Uncertainty of velocity values: the uncertainty associated to the displacement and velocity values

depends on several parameters, as number of images in the temporal data set, temporal coherence,

atmospheric noise, orbit stability, etc., and cannot be formally calculated. Validation tests carried

out on several test sites by exploiting independent (external) data, also reported in the scientific

literature, have demonstrated that uncertainties usually remain within 3-4 mm/yr.

- Reference frame of displacements and velocities: the ground displacements and velocity values in

the maps are all referred to a common reference pixel within the SAR scene that is assumed stable

(with zero deformation) in the considered time period. Such a pixel is defined during the processing

phase (internal reference frame).

- Viewing geometries and line of sights: in the InSAR framework, ground movements are measured

along the Line of Sight (LoS), which is the ideal line that connects the satellite and the ground

resolution cell. Since SAR are side-looking instruments, usually borne on near-polar-orbiting

satellites, LoS direction is nearly East-West oriented while SAR sensor is moving along North-

South direction. For CSK LoS mean inclination from the vertical varies in the range ~15°- 50°.

Accordingly, working directly with radar coordinate maps is rather difficult and prevents easy and

effective analyses of the ground velocities in terms of crustal deformation. A way to circumvent this

problem is to represent InSAR-derived maps in a more standard 3D Cartesian reference system,


with respect to which the vertical (Up), the North, and the East-West (horizontal) components are

portrayed.

- Data Interpretation: the available geological, geomorphological, geotechnical, glaciological and

climatological data, will be used to carry out an interpretation aimed at correctly infer the results

obtained from A-DInSAR analyses. The active deformation processes in the area will be

investigated in consideration of the environmental dynamics, typical of these regions. In particular,

the displacement rates of the Boulder Clay moraine, will be analysed in relation to the glaciers

present in the study area and taking into account their geometrical and dynamic features. InSAR

monitoring will allow for more advanced information about the actual distribution of the

deformation fields on the study area and such surficial outcomes will be put in relationship with

other in-depth data potentially available.

6.1.6. Monitoring activities related to the construction and use of the airstrip

As discussed above, more than information on Environmental Impacts, EMOP will put attention

also on the building yard operations during the construction phase and on airstrip operations. A

summary of the activities related on this part of EMOP, as they are scheduled during construction

and operation stages, are reported in Table 6.2 and Table 6.3, respectively.

Table 6.2: Schedule for monitoring - Construction stage.

Item Object Reporting Frequency

Staff Wastewater and solid waste Wastewater and waste logs Once a month

Material

Construction material used

and its source

Construction material and

sources log Once a week

Use of explosives Quantity of explosive and

sites log Once a week

Equipment operation

Fuel supply and

consumption Fuel log Once a week

Oil change, waste oil for

construction equipment Motor oil log Once a month

Noise protection Temporary noise barrier

toward Adelie Cove Barrier status At installation


Table 6.3: Schedule for monitoring - Operation stage.

Item Object Reporting Frequency

Ecology

Alien species invasion Invasive species Once a year

Flora Observation in community

structures changes Once a year

Fauna

Observation in community

structures changes and

population dynamics

Twice a year

Snow TSS, pH Snow quality analysis Twice a year

Soil TPH Soil analysis in 4 points at

parking sites Once a year

Air quality PM10, heavy metals, PAH

Air quality sampling log

- Airstrip

- Penguin colony

Continuous during

operation

Noise Noise level Noise level at site near

penguin colony

On flight arrival and

departure

Air traffic Monitoring of flight traffic Air traffic log Once a year

Waste Monitoring of domestic

waste

Recycling and storage

status Once a week

Aircraft and power

generator operation

Fuel supply and

consumption Fuel log Once a week

Oil change, waste oil Motor oil log Once a month

6.2. Dismantling of the facility and environmental restoring

The Guidelines for environmental impact assessment in Antarctica, which were developed in 1999

and revised by Resolution 4 (2005), insist on the need to consider the complete remediation of the

environment to the original condition after each impact have occurred. Following Resolution X

(Annex C) to WP42 (XXXVI ATCM) we carefully considered the dismantling procedure of the

facility, its costs and the remediation of the environment to the pristine status.

6.2.1. Decommissioning of the facility and waste removing

The simplest structure of the services pertinent to the airstrip have been considered during the

project designing with the main aim to promote the best and fast material removing and

environmental restoration.

The modular structure proposed for operation room and waiting room/office as well as sledge fuel

tank can be easily disassembled and moved back to MZS. The dismantling operation would involve

4 persons for 4 days, in consideration of both dismounting, and transportation to MZS, with no

significant impact on the Campaign costs. The transport of waste produced in the dismantling,


considering a volume of about 9 containers (270 m3) could be brought back by the Italian vessel

Italica, without drastically affecting on its cargo capability (4500 m3).

The Shed pertinent to the apron will require at about 500 hours man of work do dismantle and

transport to MZS the materials.

6.2.1. Wilderness and aesthetic values remediation

For the embankment realization has been considered only inert from local quarries, this will greatly

reduce the impact on the wilderness of the area.

The possibility of restoring this material into the quarries area has been discarded because it would

impact on environment more than the no-action possibility, considering noise and pollution made

by operating heavy equipment in time and number similar to what is necessary for the realization of

the airstrip.

What we observed from satellite surveys summarized in Figure 4.11 (a,b) the moraine is subject to a

displacement in the range between 20 to 50 mm/year. This wouldn’t affect the airstrip activity in a

major manner for the foreseen designed lifetime of the facility (20 years), but would allow without

any further action the restoring of the pristine landscape.

6.3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

6.1 Woehler EJ, Ainley D and Jabour J 2014. In Human Impacts to Antarctic Wildlife: Predictions and

Speculations for 2060 In: T. Tin et al. (eds.), Antarctic Futures, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-6582-

5_2, Springer Science+Business Media, Dordrecht 2014

6.2 De Villiers M 2008. Review of recent research into the effects of human disturbance on wildlife in

the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic region. In: Human disturbance to wildlife in the broader Antarctic

region: a review of findings. Appendix 1. Working Paper 12 for XXXI Antarctic Treaty

Consultative Meeting, Kiev, Ukraine, 2–13 June 2008.


7. Gaps in knowledge and project uncertainties

About risk analysis we focus on two main aspects:

- risks connected to the deformation processes occurring in the area of Boulder Clay;

- risks related to accidental large oil spill due to breaks in infrastructures (tanks) or equipment

(tracks, airplane).

With respect to movement process, part of the risks arise from a gap of knowledge while others are

the cumulative effects of changes produced by the new runway construction and operations, added

to the ordinarily planned operations, supporting the research activities.

7.1. A runway over a glacier moraine

The site for the proposed facility is the Boulder Clay moraine, located on the East side of the

Northern Foothills beside the Boulder Clay glacier. While the glacier is dynamic, pouring ice

towards north (Enigma Lake) and mainly towards south (Adelie Cove), the moraine is much more

stable (see Chapter 4). Such stability appears strictly related to the underlying orography, an issue

deeply investigated during the last campaigns by means of several instruments and techniques (see

Chapter 4). Important peculiar features of the moraine has been assessed with an high degree of

confidence. However still some important questions remain open and should be addressed in very

next future, also implementing specific tests on site.

The Boulder Clay moraine is composed by an upper layer of debris with several big boulders spread

out over the surface and with an average thickness of 80 cm. Below the debris layer an ice sheet

incorporating scattered debris is present, over 80 m thick and lying on the bedrock. On the South-

Western flattest part of the moraine, there are several small frozen lakes, partially defrosting during

the summer period. Only one of those lakes will be partially incorporated by the airstrip body.

During the warmest part of the summer and for a short period, an ephemeral hydrographic system

appears, which drains westward the liquid water produced by the melting snow present on the

moraine.

The idea to build a permanent runway over a moraine was for the first time considered in the early

nineties. One of main reasons of this possible solution was our firm belief that such kind of runway

would have, generally speaking, the minor possible impact on the environment, compared to other

solutions. Actually we decided to explore the possibility to have a permanent runway over a

moraine, well after having considered and unsuccessfully tried several other options (see Chapter

3).

The solution of the moraine seems to be in between two existing solutions for airstrip in Antarctica.

It will be a blue ice runway (i.e. on a glacier), but topped with a layer of earth. In some way it is


similar to the ice pier utilized in McMurdo since many years. The ice pier is an artificial iceberg

topped with gravel to protect it from the sun and the heat of the summer period. The gravel

thickness is calculated to be an efficient insulator, but to be not so heavy to sink the iceberg.

The moraine runway should work in a similar way.

However, as far as we know, no runway was ever built over a glacier moraine, being the moraine

naturally both made of debris and moving in times.

Anyway we can affirm that the natural drift has spatial and time scales too large for likely affecting

our facility (see Chapter 4). So, for our time scale of operations (tens of years), we assumed that it is

stable.

Of course having no previous similar experience elsewhere, the proposed solution lacks information

on the long-term ice response to the new stress of the weight of overlying airstrip. Such gaps in

knowledge will be filled up with specific studies and preliminary tests during phase 1 of

construction. Moreover the monitoring plan, set up once the construction will be ended, will include

such ice response along with the environmental impact of the operations.

The gravel runway is planned to be used with no major adjustments for 20 years, based on the data

of the last 30 years we do not expect radical climatic changes on the area. If an unexpected fast

temperature rise happen, this would not probably allow the airstrip utilization, but the same

phenomena would accelerate the restoring of pristine environmental aspect.

7.2. Moraine surveys for filling gaps in knowledge

To fill up as much as possible the gaps in knowledge of the proposed site, several investigations

with different techniques were conducted on the moraine:

Maps of the entire area at several resolutions (the highest resolution < 50 cm of level);

Monitoring of short and long term moraine movements by means of differential geodetic

GPS and satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interpherometric method;

Drill coring in several points and soil samples, for analysis and classification;

A complete georadar mapping investigation, both with an airborne and ground-based

technique at different frequencies, to retrieve a detailed glacier cross-section;

Sampling and analysis of the ice and water from the small lakes present over the area;

Measurements of the bearing capacity of the natural soil, carried out in different periods of

the season.


7.3. Construction method and preliminary tests

The construction method foresees the addition of debris over the existing till moraine. The natural

surface is quite flat for its length, but has transverse slope, which has to be corrected adding

material in east side to make the runway’s cross-section flat.

On top of the levelled and compacted material a layer of 60 cm of gravel will be applied. This layer

will be the runway surface and will have the bearing capacity to support the aircraft weight, but will

have the task to insulate the underlying material, avoiding its thawing.

To contain the added material two rock shoulders have to be built. The one in the west side, in the

higher side of the moraine, will be small, the second one, in the east side, will be much bigger and,

for a short section, it will higher than 5 m.

To verify the design calculation about gravel size and layer thickness and compaction, the most

useful tool is to carry out in situ tests. During the 2014-2015 summer Antarctic campaign tests were

performed to define the most suitable way to realize the embankment.

In the summer Campaign 2015-16, test activities have been continued, replying a section of the

future runway over the moraine. The test site, instrumented with a network of thermometers to

check the thermal behaviour of the section with the real materials, provides important data to better

adjust the design of the runway and to monitor the construction phase.

7.4. Convection embankment

The shoulders will be made of big stones to promote air circulation inside of the embankment.

A cautious approach for the construction of an infrastructure over permafrost soil needs to be

carried out. We already made a preliminary study of the problems encountered in the Arctic and the

solutions adopted. In the Arctic there is much more experience in the infrastructures’ construction

and the thawing phenomenon is more magnified. We decided to adopt a design which exploit the

natural convection effect.

One of the risks in putting an infrastructure over a permafrost soil is the possible heat transmission

to the soil, so inducing local thawing. To mitigate this risk, in Arctic the design of the airstrip

constructions exploits the convection effect. The convection effect, driven by the difference

between the air temperature and the soil temperature, allows to super-cool the soil at the base of the

construction during the winter time, permitting to the permafrost a better withstanding to the

summer heating.

During the winter time the air temperature is lower than the soil temperature. In a structure where

the air can circulate, the cold and dense air falls in the embankment, because of the convection

effect, then it pushes up the warmer air which is inside. This circulation super-cools the

embankment and the local soil, therefore activating an air movement inside of the embankment.


Vice versa in summer time, there will be a static situation for the air. The cooler and denser air stays

lower in the embankment, while the outer air is warmer, because of the sun heating, and stays

upper.

7.5. Managing cumulative risks

The kind of the runway surface will allow an easy and cost effective maintenance of the

infrastructure. Just adding, spreading and compacting gravel will be sufficient to make the standard

maintenance to the runway.

At the early stage of the runway activity will be appropriate to consider operations from October to

late December and from late January through March, avoiding operations in the warmest period.

This timing of the operations will not affect the expedition’s planning because the most of the

intercontinental movements are concentrated in the two above mentioned periods.

Once experience has been gained, activity in early January can be considered, at least planning

operations in the early hours of the day.

For winter operations the same rule of the experience will apply. Once the pilots will get used to the

runway, the environment and the climatology of the area, also winter operations can be considered.

For the night lighting easy solutions already exists. A removable systems from military

applications, named MosKit, based on portable lamps with batteries, allows an easy and rapid

deployment of lights on any runway.

Since for some aspects this runway represent a new typology of construction, it is wise to establish

a monitoring plan to be able to detect any preliminary sign of change, to identify the reason and to

act accordingly.

Different studies will be carried out: a local airflow and wind simulation model to consent an

accurate aeronautical and dust transport evaluation; a vapour diffusion model to quantify the vapour

flow within the moraine with the aim to foresee the local displacement.

A network of fixed posts, to record all these data, will be put in place in the area and a laser station

will be acquired to make a quick periodic controls of the geometry.

Increase observations of the ongoing deformation processes (see paragraph 6.1.2) through the

Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) technique, using two and not more one observing tracks

from COSMO-SkyMed, will provide a complete perspective not only of the Boulder Clay area but

also of surroundings, able us to detect immediately any significant deformation signal, including

those very difficult to observe at the ground. It than will represent the best possible early warning

instrument.


7.6. Managing severe oil spill events

Fuel or oil spills can seriously affect the environment. Spills, if occur in the station, are expected to

be confined at the site. Besides, most of the fuel used is relatively volatile and expected to vaporize

quickly in case of spills, but a waxy residue may remain. However, fuel spills may permeate

through rock cracks or pore spaces of moraines. Furthermore, inland fuel spills may contaminate the

soil and also adversely affect the flora living in the cracks between rocks.

Likely migration of accidental oil spills.

The migration pattern of oil spill depend on soil characteristics and covered conditions:

In the case of snow free conditions, oil spilled on ground of frozen moraine underlying by

permafrost (as Boulder Clay) will seep into the underlying material. Clean-up of such spills

is difficult. If the spill occurs on impermeable ground, the oil will run off from rock and

concentrate in puddles, and the ground will seem to be coated with oil.

Oil spilled on ice-covered ground is likely to remain on the surface and not penetrate much

into the ice as long as there are no cracks.

Oil spills on snow-covered ground will seep into the snow. Due to capillary effects, the oil

will also spread horizontally. The vertical spreading is always bigger than the horizontal, at

least in the upper layers. If the quantities spilled are large, the oil will reach into layers of

higher density until it reaches the ground or an impermeable layer of ice.

Sensitive locations for accidental oil spills

More sensitive locations for accidental oil spills are areas where flora and fauna must be protected.

The likelihood of such an accident is low, fortunately; however, an assessment of possible measure

to be taken to manage and recover these accidental events will be conducted in the near future.


8. Conclusion

Starting the scientific expeditions in the Antarctic in 1985/86, Italy established the Mario Zucchelli

Station (MZS) at Terra Nova Bay. Then, in the nineties, together with France, PNRA started to

build up Concordia Station at 1,200 Km from MZS inside the Plateau.

MZS is located at Terra Nova Bay where also the German Station of Gondwana is present and the

new Korean Jang Bogo Station is working and has concluded its first winterover.

For the intercontinental transportation of personnel and freights, the Italian Program relies on two

methods: flights and a multipurpose ice class ship, which is used also to refuel the MZS and for the

oceanographic campaigns. International cooperation provide also an essential support.

Flights are currently operated chartering an Hercules aircraft which lands on a seasonal ice runway

realized in the Gerlache Inlet in front of MZS.

Italy proposes the construction and operation of a new gravel runway in Terra Nova Bay pertinent

the Mario Zucchelli Station, Antarctica.

The new facility will allow intercontinental air operation for an extended period, thus overcoming

the time restriction of the fast ice runway that is currently operated in the Gerlache Inlet.

The runway will potentially be a logistic hub for many Antarctic Programs in the Ross Sea region,

gaining a more flexible turnover in Antarctica for Italian and foreign scientists, so contributing to

develop international and multidisciplinary research activities.

The embankment over the moraine at the Boulder Clay site is designed to be realized only with

local, selected material (from boulder to gravel) without introducing foreign structures.

The impact of the construction and operation of the gravel runway at Boulder Clay on the

environmental and on the ecosystem will be minimized applying appropriate mitigation and

monitoring measures.

The result of CEE suggests that the benefits that will be obtained from the permanent runway will

grossly outweigh the “more than a minor or transitory” impacts of the runway on the environmental

and on the ecosystem.

On these basis, the establishment of the proposed facility is highly recommended.

Italy welcomes further comments and suggestions toward the submission of the Draft CEE.


9. Authors and acknowledgment

This Draft CEE has been prepared by the Antarctic Technical Unit of ENEA (ENEA-UTA), which

working group was composed of:

Ing. Vincenzo Cincotti, Supervision

Dr. Gianluca Bianchi Fasani Geology, ice shelf dynamics

Ing. Giuseppe De Rossi Matters in principle, logistics

Dr. Guido Di Donfrancesco Geophysics, environment

Mr. Stefano Dolci Meteorology

Dr. Enrico Leoni Air chemistry, environmental impacts

Dr. Roberta Mecozzi Chemistry, environmental law

Mr. Marco Sbrana GIS and modelling

Dr. Sandro Torcini Air chemistry, pollution, sampling

For specific design aspects of the project, ENEA entrusted studies to specialized engineering

consultants:

SGI s.r.l. (Studio Geotecnico Italiano) of Prof. M.B. Jamiolkowski, for geotechnical

evaluation and project implementation;

ENAV s.p.a. (Italian Air Navigation Service Provider) for aeronautical design;

NHAZCA s.r.l (Sapienza University of Rome, spin-off) for the interferometric study on the

moraine.

Scientific aspects of the document, mainly related to the assessment of the current status of the

environment and to the environmental monitoring plan, were coordinated by Dr. Vito Vitale and Dr.

Anna Maria Fioretti (National Research Council), integrating specific paragraphs from:

Dr Maurizio Azzaro (National Research Council) for information on the biological status

of lake-ice blisters;

Prof. Nicoletta Cannone (University of Insubria) for information on the initial state of the

flora in Boulder Clay area and related monitoring and mitigation plan;

Prof. Mauro Guglielmin (University of Insubria) for contributing to the geomorphological

and geological framework and to the monitoring plan for the permafrost and the ice lake-

blisters;

Dr. Silvia Olmastroni (University of Siena) for information on the initial state of the fauna in

Boulder Clay area and related monitoring and mitigation plan;

Dr. Susi Pepe (National Research Council) for contributing to the satellite interferometric

monitoring plan;

Dr. Roberto Udisti (University of Florence) for contributing to the air quality monitoring

plan.


The document was submitted to the Italian Ministry of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea

(MATTM) and to the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) to get

contributions aimed to improve the document itself, and allowed for submission by the Italian

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI).

The authors wish to thank the following people from Italian scientific community for their

contribution and support in preparing this Draft CEE:

Dr. Maurizio De Cassan (ENEA) for contributing to the environmental evaluation;

The Department of Earth Sciences, Laboratory of Applied Geology of the Sapienza

University of Rome for geotechnical tests;

Dr. Diego Fontaneto (National Research Council) for information on the state of the art on

the micro-fauna in Boulder Clay area;

Dr. Grazia Ginoulhiac (ENEA) for the English revision;

Dr. Paolo Grigioni (ENEA) as PI of the Meteo-Climatological Observatory of PNRA

(www.climantartide.it);

Mr. Samuele Pierattini (ENEA) for laser scan survey on the moraine;

Dr. Stefano Urbini (Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) for the

geophysical measures;

Prof. Luca Vittuari and Prof. Antonio Zanutta (University of Bologna) for the topographic

and geodetic measures.

ENEA wish to express gratitude also to the following public authorities and agencies:

Aeronautica Militare – 2° Reparto Genio Aeronautico (Main Laboratory and Building

Materials Test) for granting the expertise of T.Col. Germinario Ing. Antonello and for

supporting in field soil tests;

ASI (Italian Space Agency) for providing dataset of the CosmoSkyMed satellite platform.

http://www.climantartide.it/


Annex A: Climate and Meteorology

AWS ENEIDE: percentage distribution of wind speed and direction (period October – February): hourly data

from February 1987 to November 2011

AWS ENEIDE: percentage distribution of wind speed and direction (period March – September): hourly data

from February 1987 to November 2011

AWS RITA: percentage distribution of wind speed and direction (period October – February): hourly data from

January 1993 to November 2011


AWS RITA: percentage distribution of wind speed and direction (period March – September): hourly data from

January 1993 to November 2011


AWS K1: wind speed and direction (October, November, December, January, February):hourly data from

February 2013 to January 2015

AWS K1: wind speed and direction, Winter period (March - September): hourly data from February 2013 to

January 2015



AWS K2: wind speed and direction (October, November, December, January, February): hourly data from

February 2013 to January 2015

AWS K2: wind speed and direction, Winter period (March - September): hourly data from February 2013 to

January 2015

Documents

Proposed construction and operation of a gravel …... ix 1. Introduction ..... 1 1.1. History of PNRA activities and logistic structures at MZS ..... 1 1.2. Necessity of a new gravel